A former cutter responds to her human rights education

Ouriye Sale performed female genital cutting (FGC) on thousands of girls before learning about their right to good health and also about the right to a life free of discrimination. Traditionally, tribes that practice FGC may not intermarry with tribes that don't. When Ouriye learned about the human right to a life free of discrimination, she realized that if FGC was abandoned, these ancient taboos and ethnic barriers would disappear. She abandoned her job, refused to cut her own granddaughter, and joined other women in a revolutionary move to end FGC and forced early marriage. Today, thousands of communities in Senegal, Mali, The Gambia, Burkino Fasso and other African countries have followed suit as the human rights movement sweeps across the continent.