UNICEF - Press centre - Three million girls undergo female genital cutting every year: "GENEVA/FLORENCE/CAIRO, 24 November 2005 – An estimated three million girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East undergo genital mutilation/cutting every year, according to a UNICEF report released today.
Yet the study says that with adequate commitment and support, this millennium-long custom could be eliminated within a single generation.
“Real and lasting change is possible,” said Marta Santos Pais, director of UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, which Friday issued the report, Changing a Harmful Social Convention: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. “Change will happen when communities – including girls, boys, men and women – are empowered by knowledge to make choices that are healthy and empowering to individuals and societies.”
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a traditional practice believed to enhance a girl’s beauty, honour, marriageability, social status and chastity. Parents encourage cutting so that the family honour and the girl’s best interest are protect"
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