From the UNICEF Report: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change:

“The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights was a landmark event in which two important developments occurred. First, ‘female genital mutilation’ [(FGM/C)] became classified as a form of violence against women (VAW); second, the issue of VAW was for the first time acknowledged to fall under the purview of international human rights law.

With FGM/C considered as a form of violence against women, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) can be invoked.

The abandonment of FGM/C is framed not as a criticism of local culture but as a better way to attain the core positive values that underlie tradition and religion, including ‘doing no harm to others’. We have found that, addressed in this way, efforts to end FGM/C contribute to the larger issues of ending violence against children and women and confronting
gender inequalities.”

Read UNICEF’s full report here:
UNICEF: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change