This year’s “indifesa” Dossier cannot help but address the global consequences of the pandemic. With almost all countries imposing lockdowns of varying intensities, schools and health centres have closed, workshops, seminars or awareness sessions have been impossible to organise, and millions of girls and young women confined to isolation. Nowadays, there is already a worrying rise in abuse, forced marriages, school dropouts, cyberbullying, online sexual violence and female genital mutilation.
This report offers a significant insight into these realities, not to be alarmist, but to try and trigger a strong, coherent and innovative response from institutions and society (as has consistently been our aim in recent years). We wanted to share the story of 15-year-old Winfrida, a member of the Kuria ethnic group in Tanzania. During lockdown, her aunt, who was given custody of her after the death of her parents, gave her some terrible news: “We are planning to have you cut”. Although not the first time her aunt had said this, this time the words were followed by actual arrangements. Fortunately, Winfrida and 500 other girls and young women in the same situation were saved by the Stop Female Genital Mutilation Association team, supported by Terre des Hommes.