A Truly Global Effort is Needed to Eradicate FGM by 2030

At Narok County, Kenya, during a discussion by anti-FGM campaigner Agnes Pareyio from Tasaru Ntomonok Initiative (TNI). The picture was taken at a school run by TNI for girls escaping FGM and child marriage. Credit: Equality Now/ Tara CareyBy Divya SrinivasanNEW DELHI, Feb 6 2019 (IPS)According to official data on the global prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) released by UNICEF there are 200 million women and girls in the world who have been cut. Shocking though this statistic is, it seriously underestimates the nature and scale of the problem. In 2015, when the United Nations was in the process of adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), civil society organizations successfully led the fight for eradication of FGM to be included in the targets and as one of the 230 global indicators used to measure progress.Target 5.3 of the SDGs now requires all 193 countries which signed onto the SDGs to take action to end FGM and to measure prevalence of FGM within their countries.The figure of 200 million is based on official representative data which is available for only 30 countries, 27 of which are in Africa. However, small-scale data and anecdotal evidence shows that FGM is occurring in over 30 other countries, many of which have passed laws banning the practice.This includes at least 13 countries in Western Europe, as well as Australia, Canada, Georgia, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the United States.Thanks to growing ac...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Crime & Justice Education Featured Gender Gender Violence Global Headlines Health Human Rights Inequity Religion TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Source Type: news