is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women around the world have undergone genital mutilation. At least two million girls are at risk every year. The cutting, which is generally done without anesthetic, may have lifelong health consequences including chronic infection, severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth, and psychological trauma. Some girls die from the cutting, usually as a result of bleeding or infection. In November 2013, a coalition of Royal Colleges, trade unions and Equality Now launched a report at the House of Commons titled, "Tackling FGM in the UK: Intercollegiate recommendations for identifying, recording and reporting". In 2019, Equality Now joined with other organisations working to end FGM at the Women Deliver conference to launch the Global Platform to End FGM/C. Equality Now also sits on the steering committee of the U.S. End FGM/C Network. Sexual exploitation Sexual exploitation is when someone abuses or attempts to abuse another person’s vulnerability or their own position of power or trust for sexual purposes. They may benefit from the exploitation of the other person through making money, political or social gains, or in other ways. Sexual exploitation occurs on a continuum that includes many forms of coercion and predatory actions including trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. International human rights law protects a person’s right to be free from exploitation. These treaties and standards include: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol) the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the Beijing Platform for Action Discrimination in law The fight for civil and political rights, and for economic, social and cultural rights, all relate to the underlying struggle for justice and equality. Equality Now's work in this area addresses the organization's goal of reforming discriminatory laws and practices, and bringing justice and equality to women and girls. Equality Now leads and participates in a range of activities and campaigns that aim to hold governments accountable to the pledges they have made to protect the fundamental rights of women and girls around the world. Every five years since 1999 Equality Now has released their Words and Deeds report, highlighting a