Feb 12, 2016 As part of the global effort to end female genital mutilation by the year 2030, the United Nations recently hosted the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.
Speaking at the event, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said:
“Let us continue our campaign to empower these girls and so many others. Let us shift the focus away from mutilation to education. Let us make a world where FGM stands for Focus on Girls’ Minds. How about this, FGM stands for Focus on Girls Minds.”
According to the World Health Organization, the practice is still prevalent in some African countries as well as in South Asia and the Middle East.
Inna Modja, a musician and FGM survivor from Mali said:
“When I was a teenager and I was on my path to become a woman, for me it was a very tough time. The path was really full of hurt and suffering because I had the physical pain and I also had the psychological pain”
Another survivor and activist from Kenya, Keziah Bianca Oseko said:
“I went through FGM when I was eight-years-old. And that to me is a scar that I have to stand with and to talk to people about it. So it’s that that is in me. That’s passion that is in me. That’s pain that I went through. And I want to stand up and tell the world that FGM is not something that you need to talk about, but to end it, like right now.