Breaking Silence, ‘Disproving Myths’ around Female Genital Mutilation First Steps to Eliminating It, Says Secretary-General in Message for International Day

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed on 6 February:

On this International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation, I join my United Nations colleagues in calling upon health workers around the world to eliminate this deeply harmful practice.

The medical community’s active support for the rights of girls and women to be protected from female genital mutilation has been critical in achieving the renewed commitments of Member States as reflected in the recent United Nations General Assembly resolution on this issue.

Health systems and health professionals are essential to the well-being of societies.  They provide credible, scientific and unbiased information that can help people protect themselves from violations of their rights.

I am truly inspired by actions already being taken by health professionals, such as the Mauritanian Association of Midwives, which refuses to practice female genital mutilation and actively promotes the abandonment of the practice as the result of support from the United Nations Populations Fund-United Nations Children’s Fund joint programme on female genital mutilation/cutting.

We must also ensure that parents do not seek to bypass health workers in finding alternative methods of subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation.

If everyone is mobilized, women, men and young people, it is possible, in this generation, to end a practice that currently affects some 130 million girls and women in the 29 countries where we have data.

Change is coming from within the communities.  Breaking the silence and disproving the myths around female genital mutilation are the first steps along the way to eliminating it altogether.

On this International Day, I call for all people and partners to end female genital mutilation and create the future we want where every girl can grow up free of violence and discrimination, with full dignity, human rights and equality.