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Female Genital Mutilation survivors share their pain with the UN

Human Rights

Survivors of Female Genital Mutilation have told a UN session to commemorate International day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, their pain and why world leaders must ensure the practise is put to an end.

Mali musician and FGM survivor Inna Modja, told the U.N. about the physical and emotional trauma she went through. A teary Modja said it was a “tough time” a path “really full of hurt and suffering” which affected her identity as a woman.

“I felt that I would never become a woman because I had something missing and I wasn’t worth it. It took a lot away from what I could achieve as a teenager and what I could realize as a teenager. So I lost my identity when I went through FGM. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what was my place in society. I didn’t know how strong I could be because cutting me was telling me that I’m not good enough,” Modja lamented.

Another survivor and activist from Kenya, Keziah Bianca Oseko, did not mince her words and told the world leaders why the practise should cease.

“I went through FGM when I was eight-years-old. And that to me is a scar that I have to stand with and to talk to people about. So it’s what is in me. That is the passion that is in me. That is the pain that I went through. And I want to stand up and tell the world that FGM is not something that you need to talk about, but to end it, like right now.”

Latest reports indicate that some 200 million women and girls in the world presently have been cut.

“Let us continue our campaign to empower these girls and so many others. Let us shift the focus away from mutilation to education. Let us make a world where FGM stands for Focus on Girls’ Minds,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki Mon said.

UN Secretary General called for the campaign against the act to be intensified.

“In this way we will create conditions where, as one NGO rightly says, FGM stands for Finally Girls Matter,” Ban Ki Moon added.

The target is to eliminate FGM by the year 2030.