UN: More Women Face Genital Mutilation Than Earlier Estimated

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LONDON – (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More than 200 million girls and women globally have suffered genital mutilation, far higher than previously estimated, which highlighted the need to accelerate efforts to eradicate the practice, the United Nations said on Friday.

Despite growing momentum to end female genital mutilation (FGM), experts warned that booming populations in some high prevalence countries were undermining efforts to tackle the practice widely condemned as a serious human rights abuse.

“If current trends continue the number of girls and women subjected to FGM will increase significantly over the next 15 years,” the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on the eve of International Day for Zero Tolerance of FGM.

The UNICEF data covers 30 countries, but half of girls and women who have been cut live in just three countries – Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

The new global figure includes nearly 70 million more girls and women than UNICEF estimated in 2014.

(Photo source: Reuters)

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