African leaders supporting end to genital mutilation.

UNICEF reports that over the last six years, thousands of villages in West Africa have joined together in public pledging ceremonies to abandon female genital mutilation/cutting. The aid organization is supporting programs to end FGM/C in 18 countries and conducting initial activities in four, bringing greater aim of ending the practice globally within a single generation.

In Egypt, the FGM-Free Village Model project brings together government and UN partners to encourage villages in the southern region to make public declarations against FGM/C. Individuals who have renounced FGM/C are encouraged to speak out and persuade others in the community to do the same. In other countries the support of government and religious leaders has been obtained.

According to UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman "The most effective approaches to this issue have been found not by punishing perpetrators but through encouraging and supporting healthy choices."

Every year, three million girls between birth and 14 years in countries on the African continent are subjected to the practice, as are thousands of girls in immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. Globally, between 100 and 140 million girls and women have been cut or mutilated. Many communities still hold firmly to the traditions considered a pre-requisite for marriage.