A meeting on Zero Tolerance Day (ZTD), has been held in Zwolle, the capital city of Overijssel province in Northeast Netherlands on 6 February 2023 with the presence of many anti-FGM campaigners from the local non-governmental organizations attended to draw worldwide attention to the fight against the Female circumcision.

This international day event was organized together by GGD IJsselland, GGD North and East-Gelderland with the name of Platform 6/2

This year’s topic was (Building on milestones – towards 2030) as some campaigners argue that the fight to end FGM needs to have a real commitment to reach areas where people still practice female circumcision by warning them about the lifetime threats of FGM.

Zahra Naleie, FSAN senior project manager for gender, had the opportunity to make a presentation over her past 20 years of the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation inside the FGM-related communities in the Netherlands.

She talked about the milestones and the challenges faced during the fight against female circumcision.

Zahra also told the attendees about the success made during the long-running nationwide awareness among the migrant communities in the Netherlands to boost the level of understanding of the risks of female circumcision.

During the Zero Tolerance Day conference, there were five round-table workshop trainings in which the participants were divided into five groups to share their thoughts.

Meanwhile, the UN secretary-general António Guterres says the men should have their role in ending the practice of female circumcision

“I call on men and boys everywhere to join me in speaking out and stepping forward to end female genital mutilation, for the benefit of all.” He said

Over the last 25 years, the prevalence of FGM has declined globally. Today, a girl is one-third less likely to undergo FGM than 30 years ago. However, sustaining these achievements in the face of humanitarian crises such as disease outbreaks, climate change, armed conflict and more could cause a rollback of progress toward achieving gender equality and the elimination of FGM by 2030.

See the photos at the ZTD conference