Female genital mutilation (‘FGM’) is the removal of a young girls genitals through a painful procedure, often with blunt tools and rarely with anaesthetic.
CAPE TOWN, February 9 (ANA) – Each year, about four million girls worldwide are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), with most girls cut before the age of 15, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF.
FGM is the removal of a young girls genitals through a painful procedure, often with blunt tools and rarely with an anaesthetic.
Genital mutilation is done from infancy till the age of 15, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimating that in Africa, an estimated 92 million girls aged 10 and above have undergone crude mutilations of their genitals.
The practice is found in some countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within communities abroad from countries in which FGM is common.
UNICEF estimated, in 2016, that 200 million women in 30 countries — Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Yemen, and 27 African countries — had been subjected to one or more types of FGM.
Furthermore, Anthony Blinken, the United States (US) secretary of state said in a statement this week that the US recognises gender equality and girls’ empowerment are not achievable without prioritising gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response.
“For millions of girls around the world, this means we must act to eliminate female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C),” Blinken said.
Furthermore, while girls today are one-third less likely to be subjected to FGM/C compared to three decades ago, the United Nations estimates that progress needs to be at least 10 times faster to meet the global target of FGM/C elimination by 2030.
Efforts to eliminate FGM/C are more pressing than ever as the Covid-19 pandemic has increased girls’ risk of being subjected to the practice, the UN said.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
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