Horrific female genital mutilation continues to haunt over 200 million girls and women around the world

Despite efforts from the United Nations to completely outlaw this horrible practice, Female Genital Mutilation continues to affect girls and women all around the world. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the UN Children's agency, 200 million females have become victims to FGM, with 44 million of those under 14-years-old. Most of these girls are forced to endure the procedure before their fifth birthday. 

"In countries like Somalia, Guinea and Djibouti, the practice is practically universal," said Claudia Cappa, the lead author of the report, according to Yahoo News. "Being born in those countries means you have 9 out of 10 possibilities of undergoing the practice."

The FGM rate in Somalia stands at an appalling 98 percent and Guinea holds 97 percent. 

Other countries plagued by FGM include Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

According to Yahoo News, the latest global figure for FGM victims includes 70 million more females than the previous estimate in 2014. This could be related to new data coming in from Indonesia and population growth.

"We need to support national efforts to promote the abandonment of the practice," said Cappa, just ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on February 6. 

Since 2008, more than 15,000 communities have gotten rid of FGM and Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia have all criminalized the practice. The overall rate of victims in 30 known practicing countries has actually dropped from 51 percent in 1985 to 37 percent today, according to UNICEF.  

However, despite the remarkable gains, the progress can not keep up with the population growth, according to Cappa.

The UN continues to work toward ending this horrific practice by their target date of 2030, which was set in their September new development agenda by all UN member-states.