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Add to Preferred SourcesFemale genital mutilation is “an abhorrent human rights violation” still affecting women and girls around the globe, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in his message for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.
“It denies them their dignity, endangers their health and causes needless pain and suffering, even death”, the UN chief added.
FGM – sometimes called female circumcision – involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for no medical reason, and results in severe physical and mental health consequences for girls and women.
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for the elimination of female genital mutilation by 2030”, the UN chief noted, adding that the UN “joins hands with global, regional and national actors in supporting holistic and integrated initiatives to achieve this objective”.
Tackling FGM is also part of the UN’s Spotlight Initiative, launched in partnership with the European Union to end all forms of violence against women and girls.
While strong political commitment is yielding positive change in some countries, if current trends persist, Mr. Guterres underscored that “these advances will continue to be outpaced by rapid population growth where the practice is concentrated”.
“On this Day of Zero Tolerance, I call for increased, concerted and global action to end female genital mutilation and fully uphold the human rights of all women and girls,” concluded the Secretary-General.
Since FGM concerns both the health and rights of women and children, WHO, UNICEF, and UNFPA each use their targeted strengths advocating against cutting, in a cross-agency collaboration, to complement the others.
WHO promotes medically and technically-based policies to eliminate the practice, while working through a research and development programme, shining a light on the issue as it relates to women’s health, reproductive and human rights.
UNICEF uses its field office and country programmes to, among other things, support community-based organizations engaged in information, education, communication and training on preventing FGM – particularly youth organizations and women’s groups on the dangers of the practice.
For its part, UNFPA continues to advocate against FGM by supporting the revision of national policies, laws, regulations and misinformed traditional practices pertaining to reproductive health.
Original source: UN News
Published on 06 February 2019