In December 2012, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating February 6 as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, building on a grassroots campaign launched by African NGOs in 2003. The day aims to intensify global efforts to eliminate this harmful practice, which persists in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as in migrant communities worldwide. Female genital mutilation involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for non-medical reasons, causing severe and lasting physical and psychological harm. It can lead to serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and in some cases proves fatal. The UN estimates that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone the practice. The day is marked through awareness campaigns aimed at local communities, religious and traditional leaders, alongside legislative and educational programs designed to shift the social norms that sustain the practice, as part of a UN-backed push to eliminate FGM entirely by 2030.