The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has published a Country of Origin Information (COI) report on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Mali. The report maps FGM practices and trends at the national and regional levels in Mali and provides updated and contextual information to case officers and decision makers while assessing international protection claims.

Taking the last Demographic Health Survey as its starting point, the report complements, contrasts and/or corroborates it with more recent studies and research carried out and published mostly between 2017 – 2022, focusing on:

• The legal and policy framework, national statistics, trends and prevalence of the practice
• Societal attitudes and drivers of FGM/C, as well as information on those that perform it and on types of FGM/C 
• The role of international agencies and NGOs, and consequences of not undergoing FGM/C.

EU Asylum Situation for Mali nationals

Malian applications for international protection in the EU+ decreased progressively from 2018 to 2020 but rose in 2021 to about 9 000.  In the first four months of 2022, Malians lodged over 2 500 applications. Both in 2021 and so far in 2022 some 12 % of the applications were lodged repeatedly in the same EU+ country.  In these periods, there have been very few unaccompanied minors among Malian applicants (just 2 %). At the end of April 2022, close to 9 400 Malian cases were awaiting a decision at first instance in EU+ countries. The latest asylum trends for applicants from Mali, and other countries of origin, can be found on the EUAA website.