Call for global recognition of FGM as a denial of girls’ and women’s ability to fully exercise their human rights.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons; the procedure has no health benefits. Moreover, the removal of or damage to healthy genital tissue interferes with the natural functioning of the body and may cause several immediate and long-term health consequences (2–7). In addition, FGM violates a series of well established human rights principles, including the principles of equality and nondiscrimination based on sex, the right to life (when the procedure results in death), and the right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as the rights of the child to physical and mental integrity. It is estimated that over 230 million women and girls from 31 countries are living with the effects of FGM. There is evidence of health workers performing the practice (i.e. medicalized FGM), with the m...