FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION RESOURCES
These are Female Genital Mutilation Resources.
Please also see:
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Mental Health Resources ||
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ARTICLES/INFORMATION/RESEARCH
(click here for Organizations/Agencies)
'US is moving backwards': female genital mutilation ruling a blow to girls at risk
"A historic ruling that declared unconstitutional a US law banning female genital mutilation (FGM), and dropped key charges against practitioners was an "outrageous" blow to the rights of tens of thousands of girls at risk of the abuse, according to campaigners.
US law banning female genital mutilation declared unconstitutional
US district judge Bernard Friedman, in Michigan, ruled on Tuesday that Congress lacked authority, under the commerce clause of the US constitution, to adopt the 1996 law and that the power to outlaw FGM lay with individual states. "As despicable as this practice may be, it is essentially a criminal assault," Friedman wrote, in a ruling late on Tuesday. Congress had "overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM", as it had no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce, he said.
The decision, in the first federal case to involve FGM, dismissed the main charges in a case against Jumiana Nagarwala, a doctor who performed the procedure on nine girls, aged 7-13, from Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota at another doctor's clinic in Livonia, on the outskirts of Detroit. The prosecution said she may have performed the procedure on as many as 100 girls. Four of the eight defendants, including three of the four mothers accused of subjecting their daughters to the procedure, were dismissed in the case. The defendants are members of a small Muslim Dawoodi Bohra community. The doctors faced lengthy prison sentences on conspiracy charges."
The Guardian, November 22, 2018
Ban on female genital mutilation ruled unconstitutional
"A federal judge in Chicago has ruled that the US law against female genital mutilation is unconstitutional, dismissing the charges against eight people, including two doctors.
District Judge Bernard Friedman said "Congress overstepped its bounds" by outlawing the practice known as female circumcision, or cutting.
Friedman said it was up to states rather than Congress to regulate the practice.
The ruling dismissed mutilation and conspiracy charges against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, who performed the surgery, and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar."
NY Post, Novemnber 20, 2018
Imprisoned Ethiopian man deported after cutting his 2-year-old daughter's genitalia with scissors
"Khalid Adem, 41, was imprisoned in 2006 after he became the first person in the U.S. to be convicted of female genital mutilation — a ritualistic practice common in certain parts of the world, but widely condemned in western countries."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, March 15, 2017
Michigan doctor accused of performing genital mutilation on two girls injured them more severely than she admitted: report
"Dr. Jumana Nagarwala has said through her lawyer that the controversial procedure on the two girls did not involve cutting, according to the Detroit Free Press. However, another doctor found that part of a girl's genitalia had been removed, according to documents obtained by the Free Press. The other doctor also found scarring and a small tear."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, April 27, 2017
Three Indicted for Female Genital Mutilation
"Two Detroit doctors and one co-conspirator were charged in an indictment today for their alleged participation in a scheme to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on minors, to transport these minors across state lines, and to obstruct justice. "
https://www.justice.gov, April 26, 2017
In rural Kenya, traditions run deeper than law on cutting girls
"Circumcision is heavily practiced among the Pokot community, and one of the girls' mothers believes it is a sign of strength.
'The pain will make her strong. She can show the rest of the community that she can endure it,' the woman said after having her daughter circumcised by a Pokot elder donning a beaded neck collar and large brass earrings.
'I'm proud of my daughter for doing this,' she said."
Reuters Press, November 12, 2014.
TRF–UK Opens First Clinic for Child Victims of Female Genital Mutilation
"The clinic will liaise closely with police, social care and community groups and will provide evidence and expert witness statements for court cases. It will also help identify and protect girls at risk.
'If a girl is found to have FGM clearly her sisters may also have had it done and they also then need to be seen by us,' Creighton told Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'And it may be that some younger sisters can be protected ... It's not just treating girls that have had it done, it's protecting other family members against FGM, which I think is really important'."
Reuters Health, September 23, 2014.
Female Genital Mutilation a Means for Men to Control Women: UN Chief
"GENEVA (Reuters) — Female genital mutilation, the excision of the clitoris practiced widely in African and many Muslim countries, is a means for men to maintain control of women and must be eradicated, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday."
Reuters Health, June 17, 2014.
Female Genital Mutilation
A fact sheet from the World Health Organization, June 2000, Updated February, 2014.
Doctor will be tried in first prosecution under Britain's ban on female genital mutilation
Dr. Dhanoun Dharmasena is accused of sewing shut woman's private parts. Operation occurred at London hospital.
Daily News, March 21, 2014
Muslims debate centuries–old tradition of female genital mutilation in Somalia
UNICEF activists are campaigning to educate Somaliland communities about the harms of female genital mutilation. But the stigma of being 'uncut' is still so strong that many leaders say they will not stop practicing FGM.
Daily News, March 01, 2014
New York victims of genital mutilation lead the cry against the practice in the U.S.
Daily News, March 07, 2013
Ghana Woman Sentenced in Circumcisions
The Associated Press, January 27, 2004
Couple Charged With Genital Mutilation of Girl, 13
The Toronto Star, February 14, 2002
Safe Haven Opens for Women in Kenya
The Associated Press, April 9, 2002
SJC: Foreign Nationals' Parental Rights Can Be Ended
The Associated Press, May 4, 2002
Thousands of Girls Reportedly Circumcised Each Day
Reuters Health, March 8, 2002
Female Circumcision Clampdown Call
BBC News, November 22, 2000
Female 'Circumcision by Words' Gains Ground
BBC News, July 10, 1998
Female Genital Mutilation
Policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, July 1998
2 Million Girls a Year Mutilated
An article from UNICEF, 1996
Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1995
Text of the law prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation in the U.S.
Genital–Verstummelungen von Madchen und Frauen
FGM report from the German branch of UNICEF, contains information and links to other German&ndas;language articles and resources
Legislation Against Female Genital Mutilation
Federal, state, and international legislation against Female Genital Mutilation, by state and country
Prisoners Of Ritual: Contemporary Developments In The History Of Female Genital Mutilation
Report presented at at the Second International Symposium on Circumcision, 1991
ORGANIZATIONS/AGENCIES
(click here for Articles/Information/Research)
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ, U.K.
Phone: (20) 7814 6200
www.amnesty.org
The Campaign to Stop Female Genital Mutilation
P.O. Box 20646
Columbus Circle Station
New York, NY 10023
www.equalitynow.org/english/fgm/
Female Genital Cutting Networking and Education Project
Post Office Box 46715
Tampa, FL 33647-6715
www.fgmnetwork.org
Research/Action/Information Network for Bodily Integrity for Women (RAINBO)
915 Broadway, Suite 1109
New York, NY 10010-7108
Phone: (212) 477-3318
www.rainbo.org
