International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is a UN-sponsored awareness day that takes place February 6 each year.
It is an effort to make the world aware of female genital mutilation (also called FGM) and to promote its eradication.
First, on February 6, 2003, Stella Obasanjo, the First Lady of Nigeria and spokesperson for the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation, made the official declaration on "Zero Tolerance to FGM" in Africa during a conference organized by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC). Then the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights adopted this day as an international awareness day.
According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights.
Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) not only subjects girls and women to excruciating pain, often at the hands of cutters in non-sterile conditions, but also poses serious, long-term sexual and reproductive health consequences for the survivors.