U.N. to Combat Female Circumcision

GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Wednesday announced a campaign against the genital mutilation each year of millions of pre-pubescent girls.

In a resolution sponsored by a group of African nations where female circumcision is most widespread, member states in WHO’s annual assembly asked the United Nations agency to set up a plan of action to eliminate such “harmful traditional practices.”

The agency’s experts estimate that more than 80 million females from 30 countries have been subjected to the potentially lethal circumcision, mostly in Muslim states in East and West Africa.

Although its origins are difficult to trace over the centuries, health officials say female circumcision is variously an attempt to suppress sexual appetite, to ensure monogamous behavior or to prevent rape.