KENYA’S high court has upheld a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in a landmark ruling welcomed by campaigners seeking to eradicate the internationally condemned procedure. Kenya criminalised FGM in 2011 with a punishment of three years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine, but the practice persists because some communities regard it as necessary for social acceptance and increasing their daughters' marriage prospects. An estimated 200 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to FGM, which usually involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia. The ritual is practised in at least 27 African countries and parts of…