International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation

International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is a United Nations-sponsored annual awareness day that takes place on February 6 as part of the UN's efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation. It was first introduced in 2003.

History One of the beliefs in support for this day acknowledges that culture is in "constant flux", and with the concerns begetting FGM being so high-risk, the abolition of such practices must be prompt. This is a movement for the rights of women and their bodies, as well as the protection of their physical health—which can be tremendously affected later in life. These efforts are to benefit actions fighting violence against women and girls as a whole. Every Woman, Every Child (a global movement), reports that "Although primarily concentrated in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, FGM is a universal problem and is also practiced in some countries in Asia and Latin America. FGM continues to persist amongst immigrant populations living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand." In the United States alone, the recent reports of how many women and young girls are affected by FGM staggeringly tripled in numbers in comparison to the previous reports in 1990. About 120 to 140 million women have been subject to FGM over the years and currently at least 3 million girls are at risk each year, in accord to data presented by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is an effort to make the world aware of FGM and to promote its eradication. The World Health Organization has said that "Though the practice has persisted for over a thousand years, programmatic evidence suggests that FGM/C can end in one generation."

Activism

In 1993 UNICEF was only budgeting US$100,000/year for efforts that fight against FGM, which proved insufficient as FGM was affecting more than 100 million girls at the time. Equality Now, an international network of lawyers, activists and supporters that aim to hold governments responsible for ending FGM and other world crisis, launched a "global campaign" calling for increased funding and in response, UNICEF increased its budget to nearly $91 million in efforts towards ending FGM. On February 6, 2003, Stella Obasanjo, the First Lady of Nigeria and spokesperson for the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation, made the official declaration on "Zero Tolerance to FGM" in Africa during a conference organized by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC). Then the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights adopted this day as an international awareness day. Activists: Young female students from Integrate Bristol, including Fahma Mohamed and her colleagues at Bristol, used their resources and voice to protest against FGM in their countries. The young girls went to measures as deep as coming face to face with the ones who cut them, to confronting their fathers/authority, to petitioning using resources such as Change.Org. The United Nations, UN, got involved with this activist event alongside the students and made efforts to make a more permanent recognition and proclamation of zero tolerance for the persisting epidemic of FGM. In 2014, 17-year-old Bristol student Fahma Mohamed created an online petition with Change.org on the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, asking Michael Gove, then the education secretary in the United Kingdom, to write to the leaders of all primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom, encouraging them to be alert to the dangers of FGM. The petition attained more than 230,000 supporters and was one of the fastest growing UK petitions on Change.org. Michael Gove met with Fahma Mohamed and members of the youth group Integrate Bristol, who have also played a key role in raising awareness of FGM. He also sent a letter to all headteachers in England informing them of new guidelines on children's safety, including guidance on FGM. These new guidelines marked the first time the safeguarding guidelines included specific mention of FGM and encouraged teachers to be vigilant against it.

Human rights Carol Bellamy, executive director of the UN's Children's Agency (UNICEF), noted that "Female genital mutilation and cutting is a violation of the basic rights of women and girls," and that "it is a dangerous and irreversible procedure that negatively impacts the general health, childbearing capabilities and educational opportunities of girls and women." It has been spoken about on numerous occasions that holding a day for zero intolerance of FGM is not just based on medical precautions, but as a way to protest the misogyny that is indirectly posed by the practice. Written in an informational article about FGM on Every Woman, Every Child, which is a movement launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that puts into action the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health, online database, it is noted that, "it reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls," in reference to the practice of FGM.

Health risks

Short term Severe pain, excessive bleeding (hemorrhage), shock, genital tissue swelling: due to inflammatory response or local infection, infections, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), urination problems, impaired wound healing: can lead to pain, infections and abnormal scarring, death (can be caused by infections such as tetanus and hemorrhage), and psychological consequences such as trauma (many women describe FGM as a traumatic event).

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