“People, especially men, need to understand that it is an equal human right for a young girl and a woman to live her life and have full autonomy of her body. It is not men who should be making decisions for her.”

“If a boy tells me about giving me a future or money, I simply tell him that I am a person with dreams, so I want to achieve them and make my parents proud,” says Amanda Hadebe, 13. Her powerful words bring hope to her community.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an issue that resides at the final frontier and it can benefit immensely from calibrated action – right now, in this decade, write Mohamed M Fall and Dr. Julitta Onabanjo on International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM.