On February 6, 2003, the day was adopted as an international day of observance by the United Nations. The first lady of Nigeria and spokesperson for the Campaign against Female Genital Mutilation, Stella Obasanjo called for an official declaration during a conference organized by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC), a nongovernmental network headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and it was thereafter adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights. Now, every year on February 6, there are ceremonies and conferences dedicated to raising awareness and presenting accurate data on this practice that affects millions of women and children.

Feldman-Jacobs, Charlotte. “Commemorating International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.” Wayback Machine, 29 Jan. 2009, https://web.archive.org/web/20100213125942/http://www.prb.org/Articles/2....