Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/02/2023
All Day

Categories

• FGM

Young advocates holding End FGM campaign banners.
PHOTO:©UNFPA

6 February has been recognised as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation since 2012. The aim of this day is to amplify and direct the efforts on the elimination of this practice. See here for more details.

In 2023 4.32 million girls around the world are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation.

In 2023, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF have launched a Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation: Delivering the Global Promise on the 2023 theme; “Partnership with Men and Boys to transform Social and gender Norms to End FGM”.

Significant opposition rates to female genital mutilation among men and boys are evident in countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, and Sudan.

So this year, UNFPA and UNICEF call on the global community to partner with men and boys and foster their engagement to accelerate the elimination of this harmful practice and uplift the voices of women and girls. Varying initiatives have been employed by organizations around the world to engage and partner with men and boys and for them to take an active role. These initiatives have resulted in a surge of male allies such as religious and traditional leaders, health workers, law enforcement officials, members of civil society and grassroots organizations, and more and have led to notable achievements in the protection of women and girls.

Join the online campaign and participate on social media. Share with the world how #MenEndFGM!

Full campaign package here

Although the practice has been around for more than a thousand years, there are reasons to think that female genital mutilation could end in a single generation. That is why the United Nations strives for its full eradication by 2030, following the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.

Since 2008, UNFPA, jointly with UNICEF, leads the largest global programme to accelerate the elimination of female genital mutilation. The Joint Programme currently focuses on 17 countries in Africa and the Middle East and also supports regional and global initiatives.

Over the years, this partnership has seen significant achievements. Through the support of the joint programme, more than 6 million girls and women received prevention, protection and care services related to FGM. Some 45 million people made public declarations to abandon FGM. 532,158 girls were prevented from undergoing FGM. See the UNFPA 2021 Annual Report on FGM

#EndFGM