Female Genital Mutliation/Cutting: A Statistical Overview and an Exploration of the Dynamics of Change

This report is a comprehensive statistical overview of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in the 29 countries where the practice is concentrated. Analysisof the data reflects current perspectives on FGM/C, informed by the latest policy, programmatic and theoretical evidence. The purpose of the report is to generate an in-depth understanding of FGM/C that can be applied to the development of policies and programmes, with the ultimate aim of eliminating the practice.

Over the last several decades, effortsto address FGM/C have intensified with the support of many partners,including governments, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, religious and other civil society groups,and local communities...These efforts have contributed to and benefitted from an evolving understanding of the practice and of the social dynamics that lead to its abandonment. New insights into FGM/C are informing the design of policies and programmes both in countries where it has been practised for generations and in areas where it is relatively new and associated with immigration. The growing number of reports of public commitments to end FGM/C and its actual abandonment by population groups across a diverse range of countries are strong indications that the practice can indeed become a vestige of the past. These grassroots movements, in turn, have fuelled international commitment to eliminate FGM/C worldwide.