New UNICEF Data
Show Need for Urgent Action on Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage
LONDON/NEW
YORK, 22 July 2014 – The UK Government and UNICEF are hosting today a
first-ever Girl Summit to rally support for much faster progress to end female
genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage – two practices that affect
millions of girls across the globe.
UNICEF data released today show that while prevalence has decreased
slightly over the past three decades, rates of progress need to be scaled up
dramatically, to offset population growth in the countries where the practices
are most common.
“FGM and child marriage profoundly and permanently harm girls, denying them
their right to make their own decisions and to reach their full potential. They
are detriments to the girls themselves, their families, and their societies,”
said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “Girls are not property; they have
the right to determine their destiny. When they do so, everyone benefits.”
According to the newly-released data:
- More than 130 million girls and women have experienced
some form of FGM in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where
the harmful practice is most common. Beyond extreme physical and
psychological pain, girls who undergo FGM are at risk of prolonged
bleeding, infection, infertility and death.
- Child marriage is even more widespread and can lead to
a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation. Worldwide, more than 700
million women alive today were married as children. More than 1 in 3 – or
some 250 million – were married before 15. Girls who marry before they turn
18 are less likely to remain in school and more likely to experience
domestic violence. Young teenage girls are more likely to die due to
complications in pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s; their
infants are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.
- Overall, an adolescent girl today is about a third less
likely to be cut than 30 years ago. Kenya and Tanzania have seen rates
drop to a third of their levels three decades ago through a combination of
community activism and legislation. In the Central African Republic, Iraq,
Liberia and Nigeria, prevalence has dropped by as much as half. Attitudes
are also changing: recent data show that the majority of people in the
countries where FGM is practiced believe it should end, but continue to
compel their daughters to undergo the procedure because of strong social
pressure.
- But without far more intensive and sustained action now
from all parts of society, hundreds of millions more girls will suffer
profound, permanent, and utterly unnecessary harm.
- If rates of decline seen in the past three decades are sustained,
the impact of population growth means the number of women married as
children (more than 700 million) will remain flat through 2050; and up to
63 million more girls could be cut by 2050.
- Doubling the rate of decline would bring the number of women
married as children down to 570 million by 2030 and 450 million by 2050.
The number of girls and women affected by FGM/C (more than 130 million)
would remain roughly at today’s levels.
“The numbers tell us we must accelerate our efforts. And let’s not forget
that these numbers represent real lives. While these are problems of a global
scale, the solutions must be local, driven by communities, families and girls
themselves to change mindsets and break the cycles that perpetuate FGM/C and
child marriage,” Lake said. “We can’t let the staggering numbers numb us – they
must compel us to act.”
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