A/HRC/RES/44/16 Recognizing that the practice of female genital mutilation constitutes torture or illtreatment and must be prohibited, in accordance with regional and international human rights standards, Expressing deep concern about the lack of effective measures for prosecuting perpetrators and for providing victims and survivors of female genital mutilation with access to remedies and redress, health care and health services, mental health and psychosocial counselling, legal assistance and socioeconomic reintegration services, Noting that human rights accountability means not only the establishment of protection measures ensuring criminal liability and the provision of legal remedies but also the implementation of a broad range of other measures in the design, implementation and monitoring of policies, programmes and services to ensure women’s and girls’ enjoyment of human rights with the full, equal active and meaningful participation of women and girls at risk of and affected by female genital mutilation, Noting with concern that many countries lack accurate and reliable data on female genital mutilation to inform planning and track progress in eliminating female genital mutilation due to the absence of indicators in administrative data systems, the absence of robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to track progress and the absence of standard guidelines on data collection, Bearing in mind the most recent global and national commitments made by States, including in the 2019 Ouagadougou call to action on eliminating female genital mutilation and the 2019 Cairo call to action for the elimination of child marriage and female genital mutilation in Africa, to accelerate efforts to ensure the global elimination of the practice of female genital mutilation by 2030, Welcoming the growing global consensus on the need to take appropriate measures to prevent and eradicate female genital mutilation, and considering that this practice cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds, Welcoming also initiatives, such as the Saleema initiative launched by the African Union, to galvanize political action, increase allocation of financial resources and strengthen partnerships to end female genital mutilation, Deeply concerned about studies indicating that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis could drive international, regional and national efforts away from the prevention and elimination of female genital mutilation and other harmful practices, which could result in delayed programme implementation and at least 2 million additional cases of female genital mutilation that could have been averted by 2030, Reaffirming the obligations and commitments of States to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and to prevent and eliminate the practice of female genital mutilation, and emphasizing in this regard the specific role of the different departments of government, the legislative branch and the judiciary at the national and subnational levels, Bearing in mind that States have the primary responsibility for preventing and eliminating female genital mutilation and for achieving zero tolerance of the practice, 1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the expert group meeting on the elimination of female genital mutilation;1 2. Urges States to condemn all harmful practices that affect women and girls, in particular female genital mutilation, including medical acts performed within or outside of medical institutions, and to take all necessary measures to prohibit female genital mutilation and to protect women and girls from this form of violence; 3. Also urges States to ensure the protection of and provision of support to women and girls subjected to, or at risk of, female genital mutilation, and to address the underlying systemic and structural causes in which the harmful practice is rooted by establishing well1 A/HRC/44/33. 3