February 10th, 2022
The international community observes the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on 6 February each year. The day provides the opportunity for governments, United Nations Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, development partners, activists, communities and other relevant stakeholders to raise awareness, renew commitments and reiterate that female genital mutilation is an unacceptable harmful practice and a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights. The theme for this year’s International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM is “Accelerating Investment to End Female Genital Mutilation”.
An estimated $2.4 billion is needed to eliminate FGM by 2030 in 31 priority countries, where more than 4 million girls are considered to be at risk of experiencing FGM each year. While there has been an overall decline in the prevalence of FGM over the last three decades, not all countries have made progress and the pace of decline has been uneven. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively and disproportionately affected girls and women, resulting in a shadow pandemic disrupting SDG target 5.3 on the elimination of all harmful practices including, female genital mutilation.
For the occasion, Aidos and its partners supported by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM is organising an event to show the importance of investing in strategic partnerships and grassroots’ actors to effectively address FGM at local, national and international levels. AIDOS will present a concrete example of a successful partnership with ASD (Association des Amis de la Solidarité Sociale et du Développement), in a pilot FGM prevention activity in secondary schools in the Kankan region, a rural area of the Republic of Guinea.
The more important result, among others, has been the prevention of a case of group excision, thanks to the involvement of a young boy student who participated in the awareness-raising activity. For Aidos this highlights the importance of involving young people, girls and boys, to discuss/transform and renegotiate gender roles and power relations to eventually abandon FGM and any other form of GBV.
The event will be in English, French and Arabic
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