The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has warned that female genital mutilation (FGM) is on the rise among Nigerian girls aged 0-14 years.
According to the agency, rates have risen from 16.9 percent in 2013 to 19.2 percent in 2018, a “worrying trend”.
The agency in a statement on Sunday to commemorate the international day of zero tolerance of FGM, decried that FGM, an act that violates the rights of women and girls, remains widespread in Nigeria, with an estimated 19.9 million survivors. It added that the country accounts for the third-highest number of women and girls who have undergone FGM worldwide.
While the national prevalence of FGM among women in Nigeria aged 15-49 dropped from 25 percent in 2013 to 20 percent in 2018, UNICEF reiterated that prevalence among girls aged 0-14 has increased as an estimated 86 percent of females were cut before the age of 5, while 8 percent were cut between ages 5 and 14.
UNICEF further disclosed that 68 million girls worldwide were estimated to be at risk of FGM between 2015 and 2030, with concerns that as COVID-19 continues to close schools and disrupt programmes that help protect girls from this harmful practice, an additional 2 million additional cases of FGM may occur over the next decade.
“Millions of girls are being robbed of their childhoods, health, education, and aspirations every day by harmful practices such as FGM,” Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria said.
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“The practice of FGM not only has no health benefits – it is deeply harmful to girls and women, both physically and psychologically. It is a practice that has no place in our society today and must be ended, as many Nigerian communities have already pledged to do,” Hawkins added.
Across Nigeria, disparities in the practice exist. State prevalence ranges from 62 percent in Imo to less than 1 percent in Adamawa and Gombe. The prevalence of FGM is highest in the South-East (35 percent) and South West (30 percent) and lowest in the North-East (6 percent).
UNICEF announced that it is initiating a community-led movement to eliminate FGM in five Nigerian states where it is highly prevalent: Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Osun and Oyo. Nearly three million girls and women would have undergone FGM in these states in the last five years.
According to the statement, “The Movement for Good” will reach five million adolescent girls and boys, women – including especially pregnant and lactating mothers – men, grandparents, and traditional, community and religious leaders, legislators, justice sector actors, and state officials through an online pledge to ‘say no’ to FGM.
The movement will mobilise affected communities for concrete action at the household level to protect girls at risk of FGM. It will challenge misconceptions on FGM and the discriminatory reasons it is practiced and break the silence around the practice together with communities.
FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and is an extreme form of discrimination against girls and women. It is nearly always carried out on children and is a violation of children’s rights. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and the right to life, in instances when the procedure results in death.
“The International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM reminds us that we are not alone in this work and that we need to accelerate efforts – especially with families and communities – to achieve a Nigeria safe for girls and women and finally free of FGM,” Hawkins said.
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