Thomson Reuters Foundation: Replace female genital mutilation with new rites of passage, says U.N. chief
“New, unharmful rites of passage should replace female genital mutilation, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday after new data showed there were more victims of the custom than previously estimated. The call by the U.N. Secretary-General was heard by diplomats, campaigners, and survivors gathered at the U.N. headquarters in New York to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, which fell on Saturday…” (Malo, 2/8).

U.N. News Centre: Special U.N. event mobilizes action towards ending female genital mutilation within 15 years
“…According to a new report by the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), girls 14 and younger represent 44 million of [the at least 200 million] who have been cut, with the highest prevalence of FGM among this age in Gambia at 56 percent, Mauritania 54 percent, and Indonesia where around half of girls aged 11 and younger have undergone the practice…” (2/8).