FGM Fact Sheet

It is estimated that more than 130 million girls and women around the world have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision.
FGM takes place in different forms in different countries: the partial or total removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy), the removal of the entire clitoris and the cutting of the labia minora (excision), or in its most extreme form the removal of all external genitalia and the stitching together of the two sides of the vulva, leaving only a very small vaginal opening (infibulation).
An extreme form of many traditional practices used around the world to deny women independence and equality, FGM is defended in the cultures where it is practiced as a rite of passage and a social prerequisite of marriage. In an effort to safeguard virginity and suppress sexual desire, it is used to try to control women’s sexuality.
Women and men who come from cultures which practice FGM are increasingly giving voice to the devastating harm inflicted by FGM, and movements for its eradication are growing steadily.

In the past ten years, much progress has been made in the campaign to eradicate FGM. This progress can be measured by growth in:

the number of countries that have passed laws against FGM;
the number of girls who have successfully refused to undergo FGM;
the number of religious, political and community leaders speaking against the practice
the size and strength of the grassroots organizations working to end FGM.

Equality Now believes that with sufficient resources and support, these grassroots organizations can end the practice of FGM altogether.

How to Stop FGM

It is generally agreed that to be effective, approaches to ending FGM must be holistic and include education and outreach components as well as measures for legal protection and accountability.

Alternative rites of passage have been used, notably in Kenya, to preserve the culturally important aspect of rites of passage associated with FGM, without the actual cutting.
Public declarations by villages have been used, notably in Senegal, to secure collective commitment by the community as a whole to stop FGM.
Laws prohibiting FGM have been passed in many African countries where FGM is practiced, as well as in European, North American and other countries that have immigrant communities from countries where FGM is practiced. In some countries, such as France, laws against child abuse have been used to address the practice of FGM.

Laws Against FGM

The following are among the African and African-immigrant countries that have adopted laws prohibiting the practice of FGM, almost all within the past ten years:

African

African-immigrant

Burkina Faso (1996)

Belgium (2000)

Cote d’Ivoire (1998)

Canada (1997)

Djibouti (1995)

New Zealand (1995)

Ghana (1994)

Norway (1995)

Kenya (2002)

Sweden (1982)

Senegal (1999)

United Kingdom (1985)

Tanzania (1998)

United States (1996)

Togo (1998)

In the United States, in addition to the federal law introduced by Representative Pat Schroeder and passed by Congress in 1996, there are state laws criminalizing FGM including in: California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
Most of these laws prohibit the subjection of girls under 18 to FGM. Four states--Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Tennessee--prohibit FGM regardless of age.
There have been no prosecutions for FGM under U.S. federal law or any state law, to date.

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