An estimated 27 million more girls could endure this violation of their rights and dignity by being forced to undergo female genital mutilation by 2030, the WHO has said.
Female genital mutilation is a violation of human rights that inflicts deep and lifelong physical, emotional and psychological scars on girls and women.
This harmful practice affects more than 230 million girls and women today.
I mrking the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, and in response to the theme “Stepping up the pace: Strengthening alliances and building movements to end female genital mutilation”, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO reaffirmed their commitment to work together with countries and communities to end this harmful practice – once and for all.
Many countries have seen a decline in the prevalence of female genital mutilation.
progress has been witnessed in countries like Kenya and Uganda, where collaborative action and community-led initiatives are proving that by strengthening alliances and building movements, we can accelerate change.
Since the launch of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation in 2008, and in collaboration with WHO, close to 7 million girls and women access prevention and protection services.
Additionally, 48 million people have made public declarations to abandon the practice, and 220 million individuals were reached by mass media messaging on the issue.
In the last two years, close to 12 000 grassroots organizations and 112 000 community and frontline workers galvanized to effect change at this critical juncture.
In the Gambia, for example, attempts to repeal the ban on female genital mutilation persist, even after an initial proposal to do so was rejected by its parliament last year. Such efforts could gravely undermine the rights, health and dignity of future generations of girls and women, jeopardizing the tireless work over decades to change attitudes and mobilize communities.
Of the 31 countries in which data on prevalence are collected nationally, only seven countries are on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of ending female genital mutilation by or before 2030. The current rate of progress must accelerate urgently to meet this target.
