Half a million girls in the US ‘at risk of female genital mutilation’: Rapid rise in immigrants has fueled the illegal practice, say experts…(Oh, Great…)

Tuesday, January 19, 2016
By Paul Martin

513,000 US girls and women were at risk of FGM in 2012, CDC reported
That figure is three times higher than the 1990 estimate of 168,000 girls
FGM is most common in Africa – as well as South Asia and Middle East
Increase in immigrants from those countries has made it prevalent in US

By LISA RYAN
DAILYMAIL.COM
19 January 2016

Female genital mutilation isn’t commonly associated with the US.

However, a new report revealed almost 513,000 women and girls in the US were at risk for ‘female genital mutilation/cutting or its consequences’ in 2012.

That figure is more than ‘three times higher’ than a 1990 estimate, when 168,000 girls and women were thought to be at risk, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The World Health Organization and United Nations define FGM as ‘all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons’.

It is most commonly practiced in Africa, as well as some countries in South Asia and the Middle East – and has been illegal in the US since 1996.

The report said: ‘The estimated increase was wholly a result of rapid growth in the number of immigrants from FGM-practicing countries living in the United States and not from increases in FGM prevalence in those countries.’

FGM has been a traditional practice in some cultures since ‘antiquity’.

However, the practice violates several human rights principles.

Specifically, it goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the report said.

The Rest…HERE

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