UK Newspaper 'The Guardian' is spearheading a campaign, along with a 17-year-old girl, to wipe out female genital mutilation.Female genital mutilation is the practice of intentionally altering or causing injury to the female genitals for no medical reason.
Female Genital Mutilation removes all of a girl's external genital area, including the clitoris and labia, because of religious, social and cultural factors. It is seen as a way to curb a girl's libido, protect her chastity by sewing the entrance smaller and is considered 'clean' and beautiful in many cultures
Female genital mutilation can cause severe pain, bleeding, infections and increased risks in birthing.
It has no health benefits and causes great physical and emotional harm to the girls who are cut.
More than 125 million girls have been cut by this practice between infancy and age 15. Cutting is mostly concentrated in Africa and the Middle East.
Female Genital Mutilation is a violation of female rights, with the girls given no choice in the matter.
Girls are mostly at risk of Female Genital Mutilation during the summer holidays and are sometimes subjected to 'cutting parties', because it is cheaper to fly cutters over to Britain. More than 20,000 British girls are at risk each year. Despite legislation, there has not been any prosecutions so far.
The Guardian Newspaper, along with 17-year-old student Fahma Mohamed, are calling on people to sign a petition to Education Secretary Michael Gove, asking headteachers to train and inform teachers and parents.
You can sign the petition here.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
