Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
a.k.a. (FGM/C) in North America & Europe

Summary:

Female Genital Mutilation is an invasive procedure that is usually performed on girls before puberty. It is occasionally performed within Aboriginal, Christian and Muslim families in some predominately Muslim countries where it is practiced as a social tradition. FGM is widely banned around the world and has been criminalized in more than 30 countries

It is also done some "inter-sex" newborns and infants in North America and Europe for what are seen by some as justified for medical or psychological reasons. Inter-sex newborns are typically have genital structures that match those of both males and females. Sometimes, it is not possible to reliably determine the biological sex of a newborn by visual inspection, and the child's DNA must be analyzed for the presence of a "Y" chromosome (indicating male) or its absence (indicating female.) Surgery is sometimes performed to make these structures more closely match those of the newborn's biological sex. That practice has become controversial.

Where Female Genital Mutilation is practiced:

This operation is performed as a cultural or religious ritual on many children in some countries of the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia and other countries in Asia. Although it is often viewed as a Muslim practice, it is practiced by people of all religions in those countries where it is common. It is seen by some of its supporters as a religious duty, social custom, and/or a necessary operation for health reasons. It is criticized by those in opposition as a cruel mutilation of a young girl in order to reduce her sexual response after puberty.

In the West, the procedure is outlawed in Australia (six states), Burkina Faso, Canada, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ghana, Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, Sweden, Tanzania, Togo, the United Kingdom, and some states in the U.S.

Legislation against FGM can be counter-productive in some cases. It might force the practice deeply underground. Women may not seek medical care later in life because their parents might be charged with having committed a crime. The operation can be life threatening if performed by untrained individuals; if the operation is botched, the parents may be reluctant to take the child to a hospital out of fear of being criminally charged with child abuse. On the other hand, it does indicate that the government has taken a stand against FGM. This, and potential penalties, may well cause some parents to decide against having their daughter(s) mutilated.

US: After 20 years of personal effort, Representative Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) saw a US federal bill, "Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1995"  passed in 1996-SEP. The bill had been introduced by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). 3 The law provides for prison sentences of up to 5 years for anyone who: ",,, circumcises, excises, or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person who has not attained the age of 18." The law also requires US representatives to the World Bank and similar financial institutions to oppose loans to countries where FGM is prevalent and in which there are no anti-FGM educational programs. The law took effect on 1997-MAR-30. The first charges under the law were made in late 2003 when a California couple was arrested in a FBI sting operation allegedly after having agreed to perform a FGM procedure on two fictitious girls. 5

FGM has also been criminalized in about half of the states, including California, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. At least one FGM assistance, education and support group is operating in the U.S. among immigrants from countries that practice FGM. ₁

Specialists in Denver, CO, reported in 1998 that at least  6,000 immigrants have settled in their area from African countries where FGM is widely practiced. ₂  Dr. Terry Dunn, director of a women’s clinic in that city commented:

"I know of one patient where it was clear it was performed in this country."

About 4 FGM cases are seen each year at that clinic.

During late 2018, the first prosecution under the federal FGM law occurred in a federal District Court in Detroit. It ended in an acquittal for two Michigan doctors and six others. The case involved at least nine female child victims from Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman concluded that "... as despicable as this practice may be," Congress did not have the authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation. He ruled that it is up to the individual states to regulate FGM, not the federal government. In his ruling, he wrote:

"As laudable as the prohibition of a particular type of abuse of girls may be ... federalism concerns deprive Congress of the power to enact this statute. ... Congress overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM ... FGM is a 'local criminal activity' which, in keeping with long-standing tradition and our federal system of government, is for the states to regulate, not Congress." ₈

The parents who were the defendants in this case were "all members of a small Indian Muslim sect known as the Dawoodi Bohra, which has a mosque in Farmington Hills, MI. They are part of the Shia sect of Islam. They believe that FGM is a religious rite of passage that involves only a minor 'nick'."

Twenty-seven states, including Michigan, currently have laws criminalizing FGM. ₈

Mariya Taher in Cambridge, MA is the head of a worldwide campaign to ban FGM. She was cut at the age of seven. She said:

"Oh my God, this is crazy, ... Unfortunately, this is going to embolden those who believe that this must be continued ... they’ll feel that this is permission, that it’s OK to do this. ... This is a violation of one person’s human rights. It's  a form of gender violence. ... This is cultural violence."

Yasmeen Hassan, executive global director for Equality Now, an international women's rights organization, said that it says to women and girls:

"... you are not important."

He called the ruling a "federal blessing" of FGM.

"In this day and age, for FGM to still occur --- and a federal government [that] can’t regulate this with a human rights violation --- is very bizarre. This is not what I expected. It's so not what I expected. ... I don't think it's possible for the federal government not to appeal this case. My feeling is that it will go all the way to the [U.S.] Supreme Court.

Michigan State Senator, Rick Jones (R) noted that 23 states have no anti-FGM law in place. He said:

"I'm angry that the federal judge dismissed this horrific case that affected upwards of a hundred girls who were brutally victimized and attacked against their will.
 
This is why it was so important for Michigan to act. We set a precedent that female genital mutilation will not be tolerated here, and we did so by passing a state law that comes with a 15-year felony punishment. I hope other states will follow suit." ₈

Since about half of the states do not have an anti-FGM statute on the books, it is relatively easy for parents to go to an adjacent or nearby state where there is no law banning the practice and having it performed there.

	UK: A law banning FGM has been on the books since the late 1980's. The latest version is the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003. 10 However, although there have been a few charges under the law, there have been no successful prosecutions as of early 2018. 11,13 Evidence is difficult to collect. Often, children are reluctant to supply information that might harm their parents.
	Canada: Section 273.3 of the Canadian Criminal Code protects children who are ordinarily resident in Canada, (as citizens or landed migrants) from being taken to another country and subjected to FGM. In the US and Canada, a very small percentage of immigrants who wish to continue the practice often find it impossible to find a local doctor who will cooperate. The operation may then be done illegally in the home by poorly trained persons, under less than sterile conditions. The federal government gives a "Discover Canada" guide to each person seeking citizenship in the country to help them write the citizenship examination. It was written in 2011 and contains a warning that certain "barbaric cultural practices" such as honor killing and female genital mutilation are crimes in Canada. The Immigration Minister, John McCallum (Liberal) announced early in 2016 that the guide was to be rewritten. In the current draft version of 2017-JUL, the references to "barbaric cultural practices" were deleted. It also discusses the evolution of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual persons (LGBT) during the previous decade. The deletion of the "barbaric cultural practices" references triggered objections. The 2017-JUL-25 edition of the Toronto Star contains a letter to the editor from Lisa Volkov of Toronto who said in part: "... it is absolutely essential for the protection of women and girls in this country that it be made clear in the new guide ... that female genital mutilation is considered criminal and unacceptable in Canada." In the same edition, Sandy Forester of Bolton ON wrote: "Please, oh please, leave these two items in the guide book, as it's so important that our new Canadians better understand the right of citizenship." The current version of the 68 page "Discover Canada" guide can be downloaded at no cost. 12 Page 9, in the section titled Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, states: "The Equality of Women and Men: In Canada, men and women are equal under the law. Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, “honour killings,” female genital mutilation, forced marriage or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws."
	France: On 1999-FEB-3, Hawa Greou went on trial in France on charges of "voluntarily bodily injury causing mutilation or permanent disability." She is alleged to having mutilated the genitals of about 50 young girls. Also charged were 27 parents of the victims. The case was triggered by a complaint by a woman of Malian origin, Mariatou Koita. Both she and her sister had allegedly been mutilated by Greou. Jean Chavais, the defendant's lawyer, admits that the mutilations were carried out. He said : "If the trial can help bring about an end to this custom, then it will be useful. But punishment is not as effective as education and prevention...This is an African custom that has existed for centuries. It takes a long time to change habits." Ms. Greou, known among the Malian community in Paris as "Mama Greou" received a one year suspended sentence in 1994 for excising two girls. This time, she was given an 8 year jail sentence. Parents received sentences ranging from a 3 year suspended sentence to 2 years in prison.

Norway: The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper, reports that:

Europe: According to a 1977 joint statement by the  WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA, 500,000 females in the European Union have either been mutilated or are at risk for mutilation. 7

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Immigration lawyers:

Sacks & Kolken is law firm that has won a number of FGM-related asylum cases. Their website is at:  http://www.sackskolken.com/ 

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. M. Ramsey, "Forward USA/Ethiopia: Assistance, education and support for women and girls affected by female genital mutilation." This group has disappeared from the Internet and may no longer exist. For support questions in the U.S. you might try contacting:

   African Women's Health Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, at: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/ This is the first and only African health practice in the United State that focuses FGM. Research, Action and Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO)) at: http://www.rainbo.org/ The National Women's Health Information Center, at: http://www.4woman.gov/ See also our list of books and Internet resources on FGM

2. Associated Press article, 1998-FEB-16, quoted in the Feminist Majority Foundation's web site at: http://feminist.org/
3. Text of the "Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1995" is online at: http://www.fgmnetwork.org/
4. "Legislation on Female Genital Mutilation in the United States," Center for Reproductive Rights, at: http://www.reproductiverights.org/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from: 
5. Megan Costello, "Two in U.S. Accused of Genital Mutilation," Womensenews, 2004-FEB-19, at: http://www.womensenews.org/
6. Jo-Ann Goodwin & David Jones, "How the unspeakable practice of female circumcision is destroying young women's lives in 21st century Britain," Daily Mail, 2007-JAN-03, at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
7. "FGM Joint Statement, WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA, (1997, Page 4)
8. Tresa Baldas, "Judge dismisses female genital mutilation charges in historic case," Detroit Free Press, 2018-NOV-20, at: https://www.freep.com/
9. Douglas Murray, "Does America oppose female genital mutilation – or not?," Spectator (U), 2018-NOV-21, at: https://spectator.us/
10. "Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003," UK government, 2003-OCT-30, at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
11. Jan Knippers Black, "The Politics of Human Rights Protection, book, Page 125. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
12. "Discover Canada," Booklet, Government of Canada, undated, at: https://www.canada.ca/
13. Hannah Summers, "Those Involved in FGM Will Find Ways to Evade UK Law," The Guardian, 2018-MAR-07. https://www.theguardian.com/

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Copyright © 1998 to 2018 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published: 1998-MAR-16
Last updated on 2018-NOV-22
Author: Bruce A Robinson

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