There are currently more than 30 million girls at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) over the next ten years, according to multiple reports.
According to a UN Children Fund (Unicef) report, there are 125 million females who are living who have undergone the procedure.
Many countries that used to practice the ritual oppose FGM; many African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities believed it protects a woman's virginity, according to BBC News.
Unicef wishes to end the practice of FGM.
"[FGM] is a violation of a girl's rights to health, well-being and self-determination," Unicef deputy executive director Geeta Rao Gupta told BBC News. "What is clear from this report is that legislation alone is not enough."
Ethiopian woman Meaza Garedu, 14, spoke to BBC News about the FGM ritual she experienced when she was 10-years-old.
"In my village there is one girl who is younger than I am who has not been cut because I discussed the issue with her parents," Garedu said. "I told them how much the operation had hurt me, how it had traumatized me and made me not trust my own parents...They decided that they did not want this to happen to their daughter."
Garedu is now an advocate against FGM.
A report titled 'Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change', was released in Washington DC.
The study complied 20 years of data from the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where FGM is still practiced, according to BBC News. Findings show "girls were less likely to be cut than they were some 30 years ago."
"The challenge now is to let girls and women, boys and men speak out loudly and clearly and announce they want this harmful practice abandoned," Rao Gupta told BBC.
To read more about FGM in the full BBC report, click here.
