WASHINGTON, July 22: More than 125 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, and 30 million more girls are at risk in the next decade, Unicef said on Monday.

Although genital cutting is on the decline, the practice remains “almost universal” in some countries, said the UN Children Fund’s report that spans 20 years of data across 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The tradition involves removal of some or all of a female's external genitalia. It can include cutting out the clitoris and sometimes sewing together the labia.

Laws are not enough to stop the practice entirely, and more people must speak out in order to eliminate it among certain ethnic groups and communities, the researchers said.—AFP