Author: Gist Correspondent

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned that an estimated 4.5 million girls worldwide are at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2026, despite growing global efforts to eliminate the harmful practice.

UNFPA estimates that about 230 million girls and women across the globe are already living with the consequences of FGM, a practice that involves the partial or total removal or injury of the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is internationally recognised as a violation of human rights.

The agency stressed that FGM remains dangerous even when carried out by health professionals, a practice often referred to as “medicalised” FGM. According to UNFPA, the procedure is neither safe nor necessary under any circumstances and has no medical justification.

FGM is a global problem reported in at least 94 countries across all continents. UNFPA lamented that millions of girls and women continue to suffer severe, lifelong and sometimes fatal physical and psychological effects, despite sustained campaigns aimed at ending the practice.

The agency noted that one of the factors sustaining FGM is the misconception that calls to abandon it are driven by foreign influence. However, speaking ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed annually on February 6, UNFPA dismissed the claim, saying, “We’re busting this myth.”

Data from about one-third of countries where FGM is practised show a decline over the past three decades, with the proportion of girls undergoing the procedure dropping from one in two to one in three. Globally, two-thirds of both men and women now support ending the practice.

UNFPA called for increased investment and collaboration to meet the global target of eliminating FGM by 2030. It urged governments, donors, the private sector, communities, grassroots organisations, as well as women, men, girls and boys, to act as agents of change by challenging harmful social norms.

The agency added that thousands of children are now learning about the dangers of genital mutilation through schools that increasingly provide comprehensive sexuality education.

According to UNFPA, Africa bears the heaviest burden of FGM. In Ethiopia, about 75 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone some form of the practice. However, progress is being recorded in some countries through legal and religious interventions.

In Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia, Islamic scholars in 2025 issued a national fatwa declaring that there are no religious grounds to justify female genital mutilation, a move UNFPA described as a significant step toward ending the practice.