MARIA MACHARIA 
NAIROBI – UNITED Nations Women executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has denounced the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is most prevalent in Kenya.
She decried the practice yesterday (Monday) as the world marked International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM.
“The existence of the practice of FGM concentrates some of the most intractable problems we face in trying to change the future for the world’s girls,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka.
“The cutting and sewing of a young child’s private parts so that she is substantially damaged for the rest of her life, has no sensation during sex except probably pain, and may well face further damage when she gives birth, is to many an obvious and horrifying violation of that child’s rights.”
FGM affects 200 million girls currently.
It is quite likely that those children will not finish school, have limited formal employment prospects, may well be married to older man and become pregnant within a short space of reaching puberty.
In some communities of Western Kenya, FGM is still practiced widely.
There is an alarming increase in the practice among younger girls aged 8 – 14 years.
– Guardian