We want to express our sincere thanks to our friends at the Gathering Ground who have produced this for us

With lots of us undertaking awareness raising activity on this years International day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, we’d like to congratulate all those organisations who have stepped up to play their part in eliminating FGM.  In particular, we’d like to thank BBC Radio Northampton, Inspiration FM and NNBC for featuring news and magazine articles about FGM over the last few days.

For this we’d also like to thank our members who have all been involved in activity in doing their best to ensure that all that can be done is done to prevent FGM and support victims of FGM.

We are concerned that local families are still not getting the support they need particularly when they are they they are under investigation after a mandatory report has been submitted.

We are also concerned that women and girls at risk on FGM have places to go and people to speak to that they can trust and ensure that FGM does not happen to them.

We want to do more about ensuring that victims of FGM do get the practical, medical and psychological support that they need to ensure that they can achieve their dreams and aspirations.

In case you need it a few more global stats on FGM:

• Globally, it is estimated that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM.
• Girls 14 and younger represent 44 million of those who have been cut, with the highest prevalence of FGM among this age in Gambia at 56 per cent, Mauritania 54 per cent and Indonesia where around half of girls aged 11 and younger have undergone the practice.
• Countries with the highest prevalence among girls and women aged 15 to 49 are Somalia 98 per cent, Guinea 97 per cent and Djibouti 93 per cent.
• FGM is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
• FGM cause severe bleeding and health issues including cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths.
• FGM is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
• The Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 calls for an end to FGM by 2030 under Goal 5 on Gender Equality, Target 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
• The elimination of FGM has been called for by numerous inter-governmental organizations, including the African Union, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as in three resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.