VARIOUS: US lawmakers and human rights activists aim to protect girls living in America from overseas genital mutilation

Record ID: 723433

  • Title: VARIOUS: US lawmakers and human rights activists aim to protect girls living in America from overseas genital mutilation
  • Date: 10th June 2010
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 7, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FANTA, YOUNG WOMAN FROM GUINEA WHO ESCAPED CIRCUMCISION, SAYING: "I've seen a lot of girls being taken to Guinea from my family and from friends' families to get circumcised. Usually very young not knowing they were taken to Guinea for that and they ended up having it done, staying for the healing, staying longer or coming back right after."
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2K36HL75RV8LULPTUCKU685IC
  • Story Text: New York women's rights groups have launched a new campaign aimed at protecting girls living in the U.S. from being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).
    Equality Now and Sanctuary for Families joined forces with New York Democratic Party Congressman Joseph Crowley on Monday (June 7) to highlight the proposed 'Girls Protection Act' legislation which aims to prosecute any individual trying to traffic a minor abroad for FGM.
    Although FGM has been illegal under U.S. federal law since 1996, the law contains a loophole that has been used by some to send girls out of the country for the purposes of circumcision.
    The U.S. department of health and human services estimated in 1997 that more than 168,000 girls and women living in America had either suffered FGM, or were at risk of being subjected to it. Women's rights groups said there was little evidence to suggest the situation had improved since then.
    "Female genital mutilation is happening right under our noses. Girls are sometimes cut in their homes. At Sanctuary where we work, hundreds of survivors of FGM each year, we have worked with girls who are told they must go on a vacation as you've just heard to a country where FGM will be performed. If a girl refuses, she may be beaten, starved or tortured, as some of our clients have been," said Archi Pyati, senior staff attorney for the non-profit group, Sanctuary for Families.
    Co-sponsor of 'The Girls Protection Act', Congressman Joseph Crowley, said in most cases, the girls were taken out of the country during their summer holidays.
    "Girls should be excited about summer school vacation, not terrified that they will be sent outside the country to be mutilated," Congressman Crowley said.
    FGM, recognised by the U.N. as a human rights violation, is a traditional practice involving the removal of part of all of the female genitalia. The procedure is done to girls to control their sexuality and guarantee their virginity until marriage.
    It is carried out in 28 African countries, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as in locations where FGM-practising immigrants reside including the U.S., Europe and Australia.
    "The risk is very big. The risk is severe. We don't know exactly how many girls are subjected to being sent back to the country of their relatives to be mutilated. It is really very very important for this new legislation to be put into place in order to protect girls in the United States from this act," Equality Now executive director Taina Bien-Aime told Reuters.
    "This is not just an overseas issue. It is a terrifying problem being faced by girls, American citizens here in the United States," Congressman Crowley added.
    Currently around three million girls a year, or 6,000 a day, are still subjected to FGM. One young woman from Guinea, Fanta, said she witnessed many friends and family members being taken away to be circumcised..
    "I've seen a lot of girls being taken to Guinea from my family and from friends' families to get circumcised. Usually very young not knowing they were taken to Guinea for that and they ended up having it done, staying for the healing, staying longer or coming back right after," Fanta said.
    For Fanta, who was not circumcised, the pain of escaping FGM was also hurtful.
    "I was not circumcised, therefore I went through so many rejections, stigmatisations. I was not accepted by certain members of the family," she said.
    If passed, 'The Girls Protection Act' will outlaw the practice of sending girls overseas for the purpose of FGM, with violators facing fines and up to five years in prison.
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