A statement from Equality Now, a New York-based advocacy group that is fighting the cutting, said the July 24-28 meeting would also discuss the legal and child protection interventions currently emerging in sub-Saharan Africa.

    "Senior professionals and policy markers from government and civil society in the fields of health, human rights, social works and children welfare, education, police and the justice system will meet in Nairobi to deliberate on the issue of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)," the statement said.

    The objective of the meeting, whose theme is "Protecting Girls from FGM and Harmful Traditional Practices (HTP) -- Challenges and Opportunities for Legal Intervention in Africa", is to review the existing knowledge, trends, policies and legislative frameworks on FGM and harmful traditional practices.

    "The workshop is expected to develop a technical document that will provide the framework and guidance for legal interventions on protecting girls from FGM/HTP, which would be used to further policy and training for professionals and frontline workers particularly in social work and child welfare, education, the police, judiciary, health and non-governmental groups towards the FGM/HTP prevention in sub-Saharan Africa," it said.

    It is estimated that between 100-140 million women in more than 28 countries in Africa have undergone some type of genital cutting.

    Each year three million girls are forced to undergo the outdated practice. Even as efforts are made to ensure that laws go hand in hand with community education, implementing anti FGM legislation remains controversial.

    The meeting is organized by the London-based Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development (FORWARD) in collaboration with Equality Now, the Harvard Law School, the Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, UNICEF, the African Union Commission and the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Enditem