NPR: female genital mutilation

The practice is on the decline in many countries. But the population boom in Africa and the Middle East will put millions of girls at risk unless more progress is made.

Her family said they were going on a vacation. But Nimco Ali was taken to a woman who performed genital mutilation. Now Ali is helping the more than 100,000 girls in the U.K. possibly at risk.

The U.K. tended to treat the issue as a practice from a foreign culture that did not demand attention. But it has become a central focus for police, doctors, and even the British prime minister.

For the International Day of the Girl Child, we wanted to bring to light issues that are often hidden from view. So we turned to five photographers who devote much of their time to girls' issues.

They each were cut when they were young. As outspoken opponents of the practice, they're accused of going against their religion. (They're not.) And of being brainwashed by white women. (Also untrue.)

A new report says an estimated half a million American girls are at risk. The U.S. and other developed countries can learn from efforts in Africa to eliminate the practice.

Dr. Raslan Fadl was sentenced to two years in prison after a girl died in his care. NPR found him working at a government hospital.

Saturday is the U.N.'s "Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation." The Secretary-General is calling for an end to FGM, and UNICEF has released a report on the prevalence of the practice.

And 60 million of the cases are in Indonesia, which was added to the survey for the first time — evidence that FGM goes far beyond Africa and the Middle East.

The chief of the U.N. has called for a better way to mark the coming-of-age of girls. Some communities are paving the way with a new kind of ritual.

It's the first systematic documentation of the practice in the republic of Dagestan. Reactions from a mufti, a priest and a rabbi have sparked a charged debate.

A new study tests an intriguing strategy. Can a melodramatic movie change minds about a dangerous but longstanding ritual?

Some societies have come up with alternative rite-of-passage rituals to replace female genital mutilation. Above: A Massai teenager in Kenya attends such a ceremony.

Efforts to stop the practice have focused on health risks. And yet it remains widespread. A new study may explain why.

(Image credit: Tony Karumba /AFP/Getty Images)

Jaha Dukureh, a survivor of female genital mutilation in her native Gambia, campaigns to end the practice in the U.S. Here she speaks at a news conference in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

The charges brought against two U.S. doctors for alleged female genital mutilation brought renewed attention to the ritual. We interview a World Health Organization specialist to learn more.

(Image credit: Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)

Jaha Dukureh walks down a street in Serrekunda, the sprawling urban area where she grew up in Gambia.

Jaha Dukureh is featured in the documentary "Jaha's Promise." She got Gambia to outlaw the practice. But could she convince her father?

(Image credit: Courtesy of Jaha's Promise)

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation on Tuesday creating harsher penalties for doctors, parents and others convicted of female genital mutilation. Above, the state Capitol in Lansing in 2012.

The laws were spurred by the criminal case of an emergency room doctor charged with performing the procedure on multiple girls in suburban Detroit. The United States banned the practice in 1996.

(Image credit: Carlos Osorio/AP)

HBO has optioned the novel Who Fears Death by sci-fi writer Nnedi Okorafor. And the man behind GoT — George R.R. Martin — is at the helm.

(Image credit: Penguin Random House)

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with campaigners against female genital mutilation at the Girl Summit in London in July.

The U.K. tended to treat the issue as a practice from a foreign culture that did not demand attention. But it has become a central focus for police, doctors, and even the British prime minister.

(Image credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

This year, Lynsey Addario photographed 13-year-old Rahaf Yousef, a Syrian refugee, at her engagement party at a camp in Jordan. "Syrian refugees typically marry young," says Addario. "It

For the International Day of the Girl Child, we wanted to bring to light issues that are often hidden from view. So we turned to five photographers who devote much of their time to girls' issues.

(Image credit: Lynsey Addario/Reportage by Getty Images)

Sister Fa campaigns against female genital mutilation. "You have got my support," her father told her.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Women Make Movies)

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