More than three million girls’ genitals are forcibly cut every year and approximately 140 million women are living with mutilated genitals. Maternal mortality and infection are just two of the many health effects they suffer.

This issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was brought to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting by Julia Lalla-Maharajh who runs the campaign http://www.endfgmnow.org. Julia entered her cause into a competition run by the Forum and YouTube, The Davos Debates, to find a person with a cause worthy of the world's attention. Her FGM cause won the global vote.

“In tackling FGM, we can’t go in as an outsider and tell people what to do,” Julia said in the Davos session. “We need to listen to the community and dialogue with them about why they practice it, their perceptions and then share the facts to educate them – especially the health impacts.”

Ann Veneman, the executive director of UNICEF noted that 4,000 communities in Senegal have banned genital cutting as a result of community discussions starting with understanding the health impacts.

“There are 28 countries in Africa that practice female genital cutting but 19 of those have laws criminalizing it. And so it’s going to take a global campaign to stop it,” said Kathy Bushkin Calvin, CEO, United Nations Foundation.

Everyone agreed with Larry Cox, Executive Director, Amnesty International, that FGM is a human rights issue that both females and males need to fight, to protect the rights of the girl child.

They urge you, the global community, to do your bit to end FGM. Watch Julia’s pitch to the Davos Debates, support organizations like Tostan, lobby your MP. International Anti-FGM Day is on 6 February, a week from now. What do you want to do to help stop FGM now?