FGM, Human Rights Issue Affecting Girl Child, Women – UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) arsenic a quality rights issue, which indispensable beryllium tackled with each seriousness and enactment to an end.

The Chief of UNICEF’s Lagos Field Office, Celine Lafoucriere, who stated this astatine a two-day Media Dialogue to enactment advocacy to extremity FMG successful Nigeria, stressed the request to accelerate the combat against the signifier to execute its full eradication successful each communities earlier 2030.

The engagement, organised by the Oyo State Ministry of Information and Orientation successful collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and held successful Benin, Edo State, brought journalists and civilian nine organisations (CSOs) from the Southwest portion unneurotic to brainstorm ways to extremity FGM successful the country.

This came arsenic it was discovered that Nigeria ranked 3rd globally, down India and Bangladesh, successful FGM prevalence, with astir 20 cardinal women and girls said to person been subjected to the harmful process, astir of whom were chopped earlier their 5th birthday.

Lafoucriere, successful her invited code astatine the dialogue, themed “Accelerating Actions to Eliminate Harmful Practices Against Women and Girls,” said, “Female genital mutilation is ne'er a choice, but a usurpation that is inflicted connected women and girls.

“Here is the reality: astir girls are chopped erstwhile wholly powerless. No civilization oregon customized should ever travel astatine the disbursal of a girl’s health, rights, oregon her future.”

The UNICEF boss, who besides believes that myths, traditions, and misconceptions are factors liable for the practice, noted that affirmative alteration is taking root.

This, she said, is happening: “Through nationalist initiatives similar the Movement for Good, led by the national authorities with UNICEF’s support, millions of Nigerians person pledged to support girls from being cut, communities are speaking out, survivors are starring advocacy, and young radical are demanding change.

She truthful called the media practitioners and different participants to usage their storytelling powerfulness to amplify survivors’ voices to effect taste shifts.

“The stories you archer tin animate families to take otherwise for their daughters. Every miss deserves to turn up escaped of this fearfulness and this harmful possibility.”

Presenting his paper, a UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Denis Onoise, lamented that astir of the girls were being chopped astatine an property they are powerless to resist, consent, oregon adjacent recognize what is being done to them.

Onoise, who identified immoderate of the devastating effects of the signifier connected survivors, said it robs girls of their dignity and inflicts wounds that past a lifetime, semipermanent intelligence trauma, complications during childbirth and vulnerability to different wellness risks successful the future.