Ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on 6 February 2025, the European Commission and the High Representative/Vice-President Kallas reaffirm the EU’s strong commitment to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation in Europe and across the world:

“We are committed to fighting and eradicating Female Genital Mutilation, around the world and in the EU. We adopted last year the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which requires Member States to include Female Genital Mutilation as a specific criminal offence in their penal codes, to establish prevention measures and trainings for health professionals, provide survivors with specific specialist support, and collect data on reported cases of Female Genital Mutilation.

The EU has been supporting projects to combat FGM worldwide, engaging with communities, transforming social norms through collective action. Since 2016, the EU has been working with partners on programmes such as the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to finally put an end to this horrific practice.

We remain committed to working with governments, civil society, and international organisations to ensure that the practice of FGM is universally condemned and eradicated. The European Union will persist in collaborating with global partners to adopt a zero-tolerance stance on Female Genital Mutilation, to build a world where every girl and woman can live free from all forms of violence and discrimination.”