WUNRN
Almost
2,000 communities across Africa have abandoned female genital
mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in 2011. This brought the total number of
communities renouncing the practice to 8,000 over the last few years, according
to new findings by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and UNICEF, the
United Nations Children’s Fund.
____________________________________________________________
Annual Report 2011 for
the UNFPA/UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
Direct Link to Full Report: http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2012/Annual_Report_2011.pdf
The Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting is
being carried out in 15 African countries:
The 2011 annual report highlights the gains, challenges and best practices for
the abandonment of FGM/C and offers select indicators on progress in policy and
advocacy, capacity building, partnerships and media coverage. FGM/C campaign
highlights in 2011 included a West African fatwa against cutting,
Guinea-Bissau’s criminalization of FGM/C and the high rate of abandonment in
In addition, up to 8,000 African communities declared their abandonment of
female genital mutilation/cutting, more than 18,000 community education sessions
were held and almost 3,000 religious leaders publicly declared that the rite
should end.
The report also features extensive information on progress by each of the 15
countries.
In 2011, a continuing core feature of the programme was not only forging
partnerships but also ongoing offers of technical support and information to
relevant parties, including to the General Assembly and the World Health
Assembly. In addition, the programme maintained advocacy and discussions with
the British Parliament debating FGM/C; participated in helping to start a
research institute on FGM/C in