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Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is a harmful practice that affects up to 140 million women globally. We believe girls have the right to have control over their own bodies so we’re supporting efforts to reduce the practice by 30% in at least 20 countries over the next years. Ultimately we want to end the practice within a generation.

An African-led movement for change

23- year-old Adjura, who was cut when she was a child, had a reversal operation in 2009. Picture: Jessica Lea/DFID

What do you get when you combine a vibrant First Lady, a country in which most women have undergone female genital mutilation and many are facing health problems and complications in pregnancy, and funding from donor countries to support a …

Positive news from Burkina Faso on the work to end FGM/C

Girls from the Zitenga region. Their community has abandoned FGM/C as a result of the UK aided supported UN Joint Programme. Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

Today I am in Ziniaré, a village that has abandoned female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). While 76% of girls and women from 15 to 49 years old in Burkina Faso have undergone the practice, only 9% of Burkinabés, men …

Voice, choice and control: Tackling FGM in Burkina Faso

Lynne Featherstone meets girls from the Zitenga region. Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/DFID

As a woman, a mother, a Member of Parliament and a government minister, I make my voice heard and take significant decisions every day of my life. But there are millions of women and girls around the world who don’t …

BBC’s Casualty shows female genital mutilation for what it is - violence against girls and women

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development Debates, Female Genital Mutilation

In 2010, two British survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM) and I started a charity called Daughters of Eve in order to mainstream the issue and change how it is addressed.  FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since …

Ending violence against women is possible: a report from the UN

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development Debates, Female Genital Mutilation, Girls & Women

Defending any form of gender-based violence (GBV) on the basis of tradition, culture or religion is no longer an option. Certainly, this is one of the strongest messages to emerge from this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) …

A UK led effort to end female genital cutting within a generation

I'm posting this from a chilly New York, where I'm attending the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  It's a sight to see so many women in colourful national dress, queueing in snow flurries to get past security …