Stop Female Genital Mutilation No. 123Adopted 1996 Female genital mutilation a harmful procedure performed on a child who cannot give informed consent, violates human rights. It is estimated that 2 million girls are maimed through female genital mutilation each year. Due to immigration from several of the 40 or more countries in Africa and the Middle East where mutilation is prevalent, 10,000 girls are at risk of being subjected to this procedure in the United States. Female genital mutilation is outlawed in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and France. Several states in the U.S. have made it a felony. ADA urges federal legislation defining female genital mutilation as a felony. ADA urges the Federal government to consider the risk of female genital mutilation grounds for granting political asylum. ADA believes that in any loan or grant agreement between the U.S. and any country which condones such practices, a condition precedent clause should call for negotiations between the U.S. and that country to limit female genital mutilation. ADA calls upon the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to introduce a resolution banning female genital mutilation. # # #
No. 123
Social and Domestic Policy Commission |