NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 19 – On the margins of the 77th General Assembly, the Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni opened a High-Level event co-organized with UNICEF and UNFPA on a joint global action to ban Female Genital Mutilation.
UNFPA and UNICEF jointly lead the largest global programme to accelerate the elimination of this practice in 17 Countries, harnessing the complementary expertise of the two agencies, and often in close collaboration with grass-roots community organizations and other key stakeholders, backed by the latest social science research. Italy funds the Programme and Sereni called upon all donors to ramp up their financial efforts.
Over 200 million girls and women alive today have experienced FGM. In 2021, an estimated 4.2 million girls are at risk of being cut. In 25 countries where FGM is routinely practiced and data are available, an estimated 68 million girls will be cut between 2015 and 2030 unless concerted and accelerated action is taken. Due to COVID-19 related programme disruptions, UNFPA estimated that 2 million more cases of FGM that could have otherwise been averted will occur over the next decade. (@OnuItalia)
