The UN Population Fund estimates that no fewer than 4.5 million girls are at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation in 2026.

According to it, an estimated 230 million girls and women globally have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).

Female genital mutilation, a practice that involves altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, is internationally recognised as a violation of human rights.

When carried out by a healthcare provider, FGM is often described as “medicalised”.

However, UNFPA said even with a professional present and sanitised equipment available, it is neither safe nor necessary, and there is never any medical justification for it.

A global issue, FGM is reported in 94 countries across all continents.

UNFPA regretted that girls and women are living with the deep, lasting and often life-threatening physical and mental consequences of genital mutilation in spite of efforts to eradicate the horrific practice.

One of the reasons FGM remains so entrenched is the false notion that foreign influence is driving efforts to abandon it.

However, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency declared ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed annually on Feb. 6: “We’re busting this myth”.

Data from about a third of the countries where it is practised indicate a decline over the last three decades, with one out of three girls undergoing it compared with one out of two girls previously.

Across the world, two thirds of men and women want female genital mutilation to end.

“To protect these girls, we all must invest to meet the target of ending the harmful practice by 2030, by forming wider partnerships and implementing cost-effective interventions that challenge the social norms that perpetuate it.

“Governments, donors, the private sector, communities, grassroots organisations, girls, women, boys and men all have a role to play as agents of change to ensure that girls grow up free from female genital mutilation.”

Today, thousands of children hear about the dangers of genital mutilation in schools that increasingly teach comprehensive sexuality education.

According to UNFPA, Africa bears the largest burden of female genital mutilation.

In Ethiopia, three quarters of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone some form of FGM.

However, in many countries where female genital mutilation is deeply entrenched, new legislation is slowly turning the tide.

In Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia, Islamic scholars issued a national fatwa in 2025 stating that there are no religious grounds to justify FGM. (NAN)

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