Navigating Intimate Spaces of Violence: Global Legal Responses on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

International human rights lawInternational human rights law recognizes Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) as a form of violence against women and girls  and focuses on the urgency to eradicate this harmful cultural and religious practice through enactment of lawsLaw, supplemented by psychological and healthHealth support services. FGM/C operates within privatePrivate-intimate spaces in the familyFamily and community. It is committed to control female sexuality and suppress female sexual desire. The violenceViolence of FGM/C is examined in this chapter as emanating and operating within patriarchal social structures and not simply as violenceViolence practiced and confined within the narrow walls of a specific cultureCulture or religionReligion. The chapter presents an overview of the current global legal responses to address and eradicate FGM/C. In doing so, the chapter explores intimate spaces occupied by minor girls and their familiesFamily, the tussle between individual, familyFamily, communityCommunity, religionReligion, cultureCulture and lawLaw and the challenges faced by StatesState in navigating the complexity of rights regimes and criminal regimes to determine legal interventions that are likely to be effective, with the objective of assessing best practices emerging from several jurisdictions that have legislated on the subject.