Stepping Up the Pace to End Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation is excruciatingly painful and medically unnecessary. UNICEF is working to end this cruel practice. Here's how to help.
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FGM: an extreme form of gender-based violence
Tejitu was only 11 years old when friends convinced her to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) without her family's consent.
"Peer pressure is a real issue, especially for a young girl with no understanding of FGM," the 20-year-old Ethiopian says now. She has lived with the painful consequences of the traumatic experience ever since.
Defined as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to female genitals for non-medical reasons, FGM is an internationally condemned human rights violation. It creates life-threatening health risks and long-term physical and psychological complications.
Over 230 million girls and women alive today are FGM survivors. The largest share of the global burden is found in African countries, with over 144 million cases, followed by over 80 million in Asia and over 6 million in the Middle East. FGM is also practiced in small, isolated communities and among diasporas globally.
In 2025 alone, nearly 4.4 million girls are projected to be at risk.
Changing gender and social norms to eliminate FGM
In 2008, UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) teamed up to launch the Joint Program on the Elimination of FGM, which promotes comprehensive, evidence-based multi-sectoral interventions to prevent FGM and support survivors.
Through the program, partners engage families, communities, institutions and policymakers to promote the elimination of FGM by acting as agents of social change, challenging the gender and social norms that encourage it.
Since the program's launch, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, close to 7 million girls and women have accessed FGM prevention and protection services, 48 million people have made public declarations to abandon the practice and 220 million individuals have been reached by mass media messaging on the issue.
In the past two years, close to 12,000 grassroots organizations and 112,000 community and frontline workers have worked together to effect change.
Many countries have seen a decline in the prevalence of FGM. In countries like Kenya and Uganda, collaborative action and community-led initiatives are proving that strengthening alliances and building movements can accelerate change.
Chekoi Margret, 73, was in her early 30s when she started working as an FGM practitioner in Uganda. It was a steady source of income for her, and aligned with local cultural beliefs at the time. She stopped after witnessing the deaths of girls who had been forced to undergo FGM at the hands of her fellow practitioners.
Today, she is vocal about stopping FGM and works to sensitize her community about the harm it causes.
Saleema clubs promote girls' rights in Sudan
Child rights activist Fiyha is an outspoken advocate for girls, speaking out against FGM and child marriage. Until ongoing conflict in Sudan forced the closure of schools, she was the president of the girls' or Saleema club at Hamira Primary School in the remote locality of Al-Gabaleen, White Nile State.
The Arabic word Saleema means whole, healthy in body and mind, unharmed — a complete rejection of the damaging cultural beliefs that lie behind the practice of FGM. The Saleema initiative uses radio, television, billboards, posters, social media and Saleema girls’ clubs to mobilize communities to shift away from harmful traditional practices.
“Many people believe that since schools are closed, we should get married because there is no education,” Fiyha said. "But we say, whether there is a school or not, we shall continue with the awareness drives in hospitals, neighborhoods, social gatherings and everywhere."
There is much more work to be done. 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. Of the 31 countries in which data on FGM prevalence are collected nationally, only seven are on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of ending the practice by or before 2030.
FGM undermines the rights, dignity and futures of millions of girls and women, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality that ripple through entire communities. UNICEF won't stop until every girl is safe from FGM and free to pursue her dreams and reach her full potential.
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
