Somalia, Guinea and Djibouti have the highest levels of FGM in the world, where the 90 per cent of the countries’ adult female population have been mutilated in some form, the Unicef study said.
Although rates in places including Kenya, Nigeria, and Iraq have almost halved in the past 30 years, many other nations have seen no change in the same time period.
“Even in communities that are slowly shifting away from the practice, the total number of [victims] can remain the same or even increase if the population is growing rapidly,” the report added.
The number of girls born in the countries most affected by FGM is set to be 62 per cent higher in 2050 than it was in 2000. As such, the current rate of progress would need to be 27 times faster to achieve the UN’s target of FGM elimination by 2030, Unicef stressed.
The origins and purpose of the practice, which has existed in various forms for centuries, are not known – though researchers last year linked FGM to the Red Sea slave trade, in which women were “circumcised” to ensure chastity and sold as sex slaves.
It can cause severe physical and psychological damage, including infection, infertility, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Many women who have been subjected also face complications in childbirth, including postpartum haemorrhage, stillbirth, and infant mortality.
“As a survivor, I know all about the devastating consequences that FGM has on women and girls,” said Nimco Ali, CEO of The Five Foundation, a global partnership to end FGM, and former Home Office adviser on gender-based violence.
“The new estimates showing a huge increase of 30 million more affected is not just shocking but personally devastating, especially when we know what works and we could have prevented this from happening,” she added.
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