The World Health Organization says that over 125 million girls worldwide have gone through female genital mutilation (FGM), a procedure that involves the removal of the female genital organs with or without anesthesia. The practice, observed as a cultural ritual in over 20 countries worldwide, does not give any health benefit and is considered an act of human rights violation.
Although FGM has been banned in many countries and with international organizations such as the WHO and the UNICEF calling for the end of the practice, many girls still go through genital cutting, putting them at risk of bleeding, bacterial infection, infertility and even death.
Surprisingly, many girls in countries that embrace gender equality and human rights appear to remain at risk of FGM. In the U.S. which has outlawed female gender mutilation in 1996, a study conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women's hospital in Massachusetts found that more than 200,000 women are still affected by the practice. The girls were either cut by hired women right in the U.S. or taken overseas in what is known as "vacation cutting."
The continued prevalence of female circumcision has prompted FGM survivor Jaha Dukureh to lead a campaign to end the practice. Dukureh, who was mutilated as a child and currently resides in Atlanta, has launched a petition at Change.org that urges the Obama administration to commission a report on women and girls who are affected and are at risk of FGM.
"Laws have been passed to try to address FGM in the US -- including one signed by President Obama in early 2013 making it illegal to take a girl out of the country for purposes of FGM -- but girls continue to be cut," Dukureh wrote. "In order to improve efforts to protect these little girls, we must know the facts about FGM in the US."
Dukureh said that while many think that female circumcision only happens in other places, many girls that were born in the U.S. have actually undergone FGM and many girls remain at risk.
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has supported Dukureh's campaign saying that FGM is a human rights violation that needs to end. "I am proud to lend my voice to this important campaign," he said. "Governments around the world must work to protect girls from the barbaric practice of FGM."
