UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 7, (Xinhua/GNA) -Two million additional cases of female genital mutilation may occur over the next decade as COVID-19 shutters schools and disrupts programs that help protect girls from this harmful practice, two senior UN officials warned on Friday.
“We must act now to stop this from happening,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Natalia Kanem in a joint statement for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, which falls on February 6.
Even before COVID-19 upended progress, the Sustainable Development Goals target of ending female genital mutilation by 2030 was an ambitious commitment, they said. Ending female genital mutilation requires collaboration among a wide group of stakeholders and funding.
“We must fund our efforts at a level equal to our commitment. Even in countries where female genital mutilation is already declining, progress needs to increase ten-fold to meet the global target of elimination by 2030,” they said.
This will require some 2.4 billion U.S. dollars over the next decade, which breaks down to less than 100 dollars per girl. This is a very small price to pay for preserving a girl’s bodily integrity, her health and her right to say No to violation. However, most of this money has yet to be raised, said the two female leaders.
They also stressed the importance of girls’ access to education, health care and livelihoods, and their protection by laws, policies and new social norms. The elimination of female genital mutilation and gender equality are interdependent, mutually reinforcing goals.
Simply put, if gender equality were a reality, there would be no female genital mutilation, they said. “We know what works. We tolerate no excuses. We have had enough of violence against women and girls. It is time to unite around proven strategies, fund them adequately and act.”
GNA