Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a human rights violation, a form of violence and discrimination against girls and women. It is most often carried out on girls between infancy and age 15, though adult women are also subjected.

Female genital mutilation in Africa

In 2024, new statistics were released by UNICEF showing 230 million women and girls around the world are affected by FGM, a 15% increase or 30 million more girls and women being subjected to FGM, compared to the data released eight years ago. The region with the greatest burden of FGM cases is Africa, which accounts for 144 million cases.

The move to end FGM in Africa has, over the years, gained traction on the continent, with state and non-state actors at the international, regional, and national levels coalescing around actions designed to address this harmful practice.

These efforts have seen African governments commit to the global goal of ending FGM by 2030 in addition to launching a continental drive aimed at promoting and accelerating the collective abandonment of FGM at the community level through the development and enforcement of comprehensive anti-FGM laws; increasing and allocating resources to end FGM, and strengthening partnerships geared towards this. A number of countries have made significant progress toward reducing FGM/C prevalence, including Burkina Faso (from 75% to 56%), Liberia (from 44% to 32%), and Kenya (from 21% to 15%), amongst others. However, in some countries like Somalia and The Gambia, prevalence rates of FGM have stagnated and continue to remain high.

Women’s rights defenders in Africa have banded together and are playing their part in contributing to the anti-FGM movement by holding states to account and exposing gaps that continue to put women and girls at risk of FGM. They are also at the frontlines of dealing with the anti-rights pushback, which is increasingly affecting issues such as FGM and threatening to reverse gains made after decades of advocacy.

Where are women living with the consequences of female genital mutilation or at risk in Africa? 

Are there laws against female genital mutilation in Africa? 

Laws against female genital mutilation are most common in the African continent. 28 countries in Africa have enacted specific laws or specific legal provisions against female genital mutilation.

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