Female genital cutting, FGC, has been practiced traditionally for centuries. Predominantly found in Africa, it is also prevalent in parts of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The practice of FGC continues, perpetuated through myths, rituals and taboos, even though it has maimed or killed countless women and girls.

Among many cultural and ethnic groups, FGC is inseparable from views of women's social and sexual identity. Also known as female genital mutilation, female circumcision and clitoridectomy, FGC assumes varying forms of severity, the most severe being infibulation, and varying degrees of prevalence, according to culture and region.

An estimated 85 million to 110 million women and girls alive today have undergone FGC, while momentum has been building against the practice for decades. Action against FGC is now widespread in Africa and, in 1993, FGC was declared a human rights violation by international legal institutions.

Programs to eradicate FGC must be implemented by Africans, respectful of culture and tradition, and they must be designed with sensitivity, rejecting and eliminating FGC and all the associated devastating practices, while retaining and celebrating the rich African traditions that are both beneficial and central to the fabric of African life.