Female genital mutilation violates fundamental human rights and can result in complications from detrimental physical and psychological as well as social and economic impacts lasting throughout childhood, reproductive years, and old age.
Today, over 230 million girls and women worldwide are FGM survivors. The stakes are high: an estimated 27 million additional girls are at risk of undergoing FGM in the next five years. In 2025 alone, nearly 4.4 million girls are projected to be at risk.
To prevent such needless suffering, we must invest in resources, foster open discussions, and challenge the social norms that perpetuate FGM. As agents of change, everyone has a role to play in ensuring girls grow up free from this harmful practice. The urgency to unite efforts in abolishing FGM has never been greater. Launched in 2008, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM promotes comprehensive, evidence-based multisectoral interventions to prevent FGM and support survivors. Building alliances and social movements between civil society, governments, and nongovernmental actors from grassroots to global levels is essential to ending this human rights violation that jeopardizes a girl’s health and bodily integrity.
This year’s theme, "Stepping up the pace: Strengthening alliances and building movements to end FGM," underscores the critical need for collaboration. It urges girls, boys, men, women, youth, survivors, communities, and governmental and non-governmental organizations and sectors to take action. By joining forces, these diverse actors form a united global movement working to dismantle harmful norms and ensure a future free from FGM.
Indifference, inaction, and ineffectiveness are not options. The pace of necessary change must increase 27-fold to meet the 2030 target of eliminating FGM. Greater investment and fortified partnerships to scale up effective interventions and social movements are essential.
On 6 February 2025, we call on everyone to "step up the pace." Let us collectively amplify our commitments to end FGM. Share your stories, strategies, and successes with the hashtags #Unite2EndFGM and #EndFGM to propel a vital movement that rids the world of FGM — forever.
