Egypt's Population National Council (PNC) will hold a press conference on Thursday in collaboration with the United Nations to mark the first 'International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.'

The press conference, which will be held at the PNC’s headquarter in Cairo, will also discuss means of countering the practice of female circumcision.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is assessed to have been practiced by more than 90 per cent of married women in Egypt, according to UNICEF.

However, according to a UNICEF report released on Tuesday, the attitude towards female circumcision is changing in several countries including Egypt.

The report claims that the percentage of Egyptian women who have been circumcised and believe that FGM should be stopped has risen from 13 per cent to 28 per cent between 1995 and 2008.

While female genital cutting remains widely spread, Egypt’s court has ruled in favour of criminalizing FGM on Sunday by rejecting a lawsuit filed against a 2007 health ministry decision criminalising FGM and prohibiting doctors from practicing it.

The lawsuit was filed by a number of Islamist lawyers since 2008.

A counter-suit was later filed – by lawyers for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, labour lawyer Khaled Ali and doctors' syndicate head Hamdy El-Sayed – against calls to legalise the controversial practice.