UN Human Rights Briefing by Liz Throssell on FGM report

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday called for concerted global action to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM), highlighting that the worldwide fight against FGM is being undermined by having girls cross national borders and beyond to undergo the procedure.

“Female genital mutilation is a human rights violation,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Liz Throssell told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.

“No matter where it is, there's no justification for gender-based violence against women and girls anywhere. Neither on the ground of culture nor on the ground of tradition,” she said.

“Globally, it is imperative for states to protect women and girls from FGM in their countries and collaborate with other countries, including regionally, to prevent this cross-border or transnational FGM that this report focuses on,” she added.

Although many states have intensified their efforts to eradicate female mutilation (FGM), the practice is continuing across the world, in part due to what the report describes as “the clandestine nature of cross-border and transnational FGM.”

“Female genital mutilation has no place in a human rights-respecting universe. And the High Commissioner Volker Türk is quite clear on this – it must be eliminated in all its forms, and the gender stereotypes and patriarchal norms that anchor and perpetuate it uprooted,” Throssell said.

“What is called “vacation cutting” is when families, particularly in Europe and North America, take their daughters to their countries and communities of origin to undergo FGM during school holidays,” she said.

“The report also says that in some cases it is the cutters - so the people who perform this procedure - that move across borders to carry out the harmful procedure. Another aspect that is highlighted in the report is that girls and young women living in border communities are particularly vulnerable, given that border areas often host communities with cultural and ethnic ties that transcend national borders,” Throssell highlighted.

“States worldwide have made human rights commitments to eradicate FGM and to advance gender equality. So the High Commissioner is calling on them to ensure that there is a joined-up global approach that addresses the root causes and the consequences of FGM,” Throssell said.

The report highlights the importance of supporting survivors. It also calls on States to ensure there are effective prevention measures in place – designed in consultation with survivors and relevant civil society organisations and in partnership with affected communities, religious and traditional leaders.

The report, which is based on in-depth desk research and submissions from States and civil society organisations around the world, notes that an estimated 4.3 million girls were at risk of being subjected to FGM in 2023. More than 600,000 women in the European Union are thought to be living with the consequences of FGM.

For more information please see:

Press release

Full report

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

In Geneva

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or

Liz Throssell - + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or

Jeremy Laurence - +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org

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