Female Genital Mutilation – Policy Guidelines

It is estimated that between 100-140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). At the current rates of population increase and with the slow decline in these procedures, it is estimated that each year a further 2 million girls are at risk from the practice. Most of the women and girls affected live in 28 African countries, and a few in the Middle East and Asia. They are also increasingly found in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America, mostly among immigrants from countries where FGM is the tradition.