female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a health and gender tragedy, explained in the 2005 UNICEF report Changing a Harmful social convention: Female genital mutilation/cutting. FGM/C is most widely practiced in sub-Saharan Africa and the middle east and is believed to have affected about 130 million women. this practice, which is dangerous and a violation of the most basic right, does not only result from decisions made by men.