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Female genital mutilation in the United States

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Female genital mutilation in the United States occurs across the country. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is defined as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."[1]

Overview

The prevalence of FGM by country, according to a 2013 UNICEF report.[2]

Historically, communities all around the world have practiced FGM for centuries, dating back to the time of pharaohs. Today, FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, but it is also found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among immigrant communities around the world.[3] FGM has been outlawed or restricted in most of the countries in which it occurs, but the laws are poorly enforced.[4]

Prevalence of FGM in the United States

The current prevalence of FGM in the US is uncertain. In early 2014, Equality Now campaigned with survivor activist Jaha Dukureh – who started a change.org petition that received more than 220,000 signatures, – Representatives Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and The Guardian to get the Obama Administration to conduct a new prevalence study into the current scope of FGM in the U.S. as the first step towards its elimination.[5] Released in early 2016, the report showed that 513,000 girls and women were either affected - or at risk of undergoing FGM in the U.S.

According to 1997 estimates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at that time, over 168,000 girls and women in the U.S. had either been, or were at risk of being, subjected to FGM. In 2000, the African Women’s Health Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital put the number at 227,887.[5] The Population Reference Bureau estimated that in 2011 there were up to 507,000 females who had undergone FGM or were at risk of it.[6]

Of these women and girls, 55% were of Egyptian, Ethiopian, or Somalian origin. The practice is concentrated in eight states: California, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.[7]

Legislative framework

Performing FGM on anyone under the age of 18 became illegal in the U.S. in 1997 with the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act.[8] As of 2015, 24 US states have specific laws against FGM.[5] [9]States that do not have such laws may use other general statutes, such as assault, battery or child abuse.[10] Supported by Equality Now, the Transport for Female Genital Mutilation Act was passed in January 2013, and prohibits knowingly transporting a girl out of the U.S. for the purpose of undergoing FGM.[11]

Prosecutions and asylum

The first conviction of FGM in the US occurred in 2006. Khalid Adem, an Ethiopian American, was both the first person prosecuted and first person convicted for FGM in the United States. The charge stemmed from the fact that he had personally excised his 2-year-old daughter's clitoris with a pair of scissors. As at that time there was no specific FGM law in Georgia, the US state in which the incident took place, Adem was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children.[12][13]

Fauziya Kasinga, a 19-year-old member of the Tchamba-Kunsuntu tribe of Togo, was granted asylum in 1996 after leaving an arranged marriage to escape FGM; this set a precedent in US immigration law because it was the first time FGM was accepted as a form of persecution.[14]

See also

Sources

Abdelkader, Engy; Abugideiri, Salma Elkadi; Diallo, Mariama (2014). "Female Genital Mutilation In The United States". Islamic Horizons. 43 (5): 36–38. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |name-list-format= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)

Jones, Wanda K; Smith, J; Kieke, B Jr; Wilcox, L (1997). "Female genital mutilation. Female circumcision. Who is at risk in the U.S.?". Public Health Reports. 112 (5). Association of Schools of Public Health: 368–377. PMC 1381943. PMID 9323387. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |name-list-format= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)

McConnell, Kathryn (7 February 2013). "U.S. Taking Steps to Stop Female Genital Mutilation". IIP Digital. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 8 December 2014.

References

  1. ^ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
  2. ^ "Prevalence of FGM/C". UNICEF. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. ^ http://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGCM_Lo_res.pdfFGM
  4. ^ http://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGCM_Lo_res.pdf
  5. ^ a b c http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/EN_FAQ_FGM_in_US.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2015/us-fgmc.aspx
  7. ^ http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2015/us-fgmc.aspx
  8. ^ Zabus 2004, p. 110.
  9. ^ http://www.equalitynow.org/infographic_fgm_in_us
  10. ^ http://theahafoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/FGMLAWS_2013011.pdf
  11. ^ Hassan, Yasmeen. "As Global Consensus Accelerates, Obama Strengthens Federal Law Protecting Girls in the Fight Against Female Genital Mutilation",The Huffington Post, 3 January 2013.
  12. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6108516.stm
  13. ^ http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm
  14. ^ Dugger, Celia W. "June 9-15; Asylum From Mutilation",The New York Times, 16 June 1996.
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