About 35,000 women in Italy have
undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and more than a
thousand girls are at risk, despite a 2006 Italian law
forbidding the practice, said Liliana Ocmin, director of the
Migrant, Women and Youth Policies Department of Italian labour
union CISL.
February 6 each year is the United Nations' International
Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) aims to
eliminate FGM by 2030 as part of the UN's Sustainable
Development Goals.
Ocmin, who also serves as CISL's national women's
coordinator, said FGM is becoming more prevalent in Italy due to
migration from women fleeing war, poverty and environmental
disasters.
The European Parliament estimates that half a million women
and girls living in Europe have undergone FGM and 180,000 more
are at risk each year, Ocmin said.
She said more must be done, more quickly, in terms of
awareness and education.
"At this pace, UNFPA said it will take until 2074 to see
the phenomenon decrease by half. It becomes essential, then, to
increase activities and initiatives to speed up the process of
awareness," Ocmin said.
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