A report on the prevalence of female circumcision and female genital mutilation (FC/FGM). In seeking to help eliminate the practice, the work places it firmly in a human rights and legal framework. The authors: describe FC/FGM, its history, its consequences for health and the reasons used to justify it; examine the history of the movement working to combat it; and present data from 40 case studies, North and South, covering prevalence, legal measures and other state steps towards eradication, campaigns and prosecutions. The book shows that, in spite of an extensive and growing African movement to combat FC/FGM, its prevalence is still very high indeed. It is primarily the countries of the North which have the most developed and explicit laws against the practice of FC/FGM, but directed only at their immigrant populations - a fact which throws up one of the classic dilemmas of human rights work. The authors suggest a solution through the implementation of human rights treaties, and make recommendations for action by governments, the international community, and non-governmental institutions.