The Guardian: U.N. calls for FGM zero tolerance after a year in which the world woke up
“The United Nations has designated Friday a worldwide day of zero tolerance on FGM, and called for concrete action to be taken against the cutting of girls and women. This follows 12 months of historic change and growing awareness of the practice…” (Topping, 2/6).

The Guardian: FGM affects three times more people in the U.S. than previously thought
“…Unpublished draft figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seen by the Guardian, show that since the last prevalence study was done in 1997 the number of women and girls living with or at risk from FGM in the U.S. has increased from an estimated 168,000 to 513,000…” (Topping, 2/5).

Reuters: U.S. women at risk of FGM more than double since 2000: research
“…The report, released on International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on Friday, said the main cause of the rapid growth was a doubling of immigration to the United States between 2000 and 2013 from African countries where the brutal tradition is prevalent. ‘We put out these numbers so decisions can be made by policy makers in this country,’ said Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs, an author of the report and director of the gender program at the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau (PRB)…” (Anderson, 2/6).

U.N. News Centre: Breaking silence, disproving myths first steps towards eliminating female genital mutilation — U.N. chief
“On the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, marked every year on 6 February, and this year focused on ending the ‘medicalization’ of the procedure, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on health workers around the world to eliminate what he called a ‘deeply harmful’ practice…” (2/6).

Vatican Radio: The struggle against Female Genital Mutilation
“…The U.N. estimates that 150 million women and girls are affected by FGM, primarily in Africa but also in the Middle East and in South-East Asia. … Tommy Simmons is the founder of the Italian branch of Amref Health Africa, a charity that aims to improve the health of people in Africa and end the practice of FGM, and he’s just returned from a visit to Kenya. He spoke to Susy Hodges about this issue…” (2/5).