Recently the world marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Nelson Mandela once said that "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Young girls and women, cutting across the age bracket of 15-49, have been subjected to female genital mutilation. Some, have suffered this indignity right from infancy.
In over 30 countries (mainly in Africa), the recorded rates of genital mutilation continues to be alarming. The Middle East, Asia, some parts of Europe and North/South America have also witnessed the tragedy of genital mutilation in high rates. Millions of girls and young women have been mutilated, sometimes in the name of 'female circumcision, 'purification' or some other norms, values or customs that encourage such acts.
source: cdn.images.express.co.uk
However, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a direct result of gross misconceptions about what makes a woman acceptable and beautiful within her society or community. These practices do not make her beautiful. Instead, they usually have tragic consequences for her health and well-being.
Immense efforts have been put into the campaign against FGM. Lots of programmes and projects have been carried out by the United Nations and other national and international organisations to combat FGM. Regardless, recent reports by the UN Women clearly shows an increase in some populations where female genital mutilation continues to occur despite the universal stance of zero tolerance. This is totally unacceptable. The world must remain united in accepting nothing but zero tolerance for this inhumane practice!
Therefore efforts at increasing awareness must be intensified on all grounds, corporately and individually. The right information must be communicated to groups and societies that still practice FGM. Our various cultures can no longer be the reason for this inhumane action. Legal structures should be set-up in all nations of the world against FGM.
Every young person must rise to the occasion and support this long standing campaign. We must actively make use of the technological development of our time, especially the social media platforms to spread the word that there is zero tolerance to female genital mutilation. IGNORANCE CAN NO LONGER BE AN EXCUSE!