Special focus in the news

• FACTBOX-What is female genital mutilation? Where does it happen? (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• Online mapping tool gives FGM runaways a path to help (The Guardian)
• Statement by UN Women on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (Big News Network)
• Female genital mutilation is hurting Australian girls and we must work together to stamp it out (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Female Genital Mutilation Ranks As One Of The Worst Manifestations Of Gender Inequality (The Huffington Post)
• Study: A New Strategy To Stop Female Genital Mutilation (Delawere Public Media)
• UN: Harmful Traditional Practice of Female Genital Mutilation Must End (Voa News)
• Bohra women against female genital mutilation: Survey in Mumbai (The Hindustan Times)
• India’s female genital mutilation: a thousand-year-old secret (Open Democracy)
• Cut in secret: the medicalization of FGM in Egypt (CNN)
• Female genital mutilation: Young Kenyan girls take part in tribal ceremony (The Telegraph)
• New Cases of FGM reported every hour in UK (Breitbart)
• Montenegro Introduces Law Against Female Genital Mutilation (Balkan Insight)
• Sexual violence: The silent health epidemic (The Globe and Mail)

Organizations who fight to end the practice of FGM around the world

• Kenya’s Maasai and Samburu becoming women without FGM (Al Jazeera)
• Almost All Girls Were Cut in Her Ethiopian Village: Not Anymore, Thanks to Her (Pulitzer Center)
• Maison des Femmes in Paris, helps victims of abuse, FGM  (Al Jazeera)
• Women Group Wants Female Genital Mutilation Act Put into Law (FrontPageAfrica)

Videos

• The facts you should know about female genital mutilation (The Guardian)

2017 Theme: “Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030.”

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. The practice also violates their rights to health, security and physical integrity, their right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and their right to life when the procedure results in death.

Key Facts:

• Globally, it is estimated that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM.
• Girls 14 and younger represent 44 million of those who have been cut, with the highest prevalence of FGM among this age in Gambia at 56 per cent, Mauritania 54 per cent and Indonesia where around half of girls aged 11 and younger have undergone the practice.
• Countries with the highest prevalence among girls and women aged 15 to 49 are Somalia 98 per cent, Guinea 97 per cent and Djibouti 93 per cent.
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
• FGM cause severe bleeding and health issues including cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths.
• FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
• The Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 calls for an end to FGM by 2030 under Goal 5 on Gender Equality, Target 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• The elimination of FGM has been called for by numerous inter-governmental organizations, including the African Union, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as in three resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

More information