The hidden trafficking of the practice of underground female genital mutilation in the United States often goes unreported, unsuspected and undetected. The first federal prosecution of female genital mutilation (18 USC § 116) is occurring in Detroit, Michigan, with the indictment of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, the alleged mutilator, along with eight other conspirators, aiders, and abetters.
These defendants are members of the Muslim sect Dawoodi Bohra and mandate this practice of FGM on their little daughters.
Incredibly, a federal statute outlawing FGM was passed in 1996, and it has taken 21 years to bring a federal criminal prosecution. While this is a first important step, it signals the depth and extent of the covert conspiracy of silence to protect this hideous and barbaric practice on unsuspecting little girls. The public should be aware that it is also a federal crime to take a child out of the U.S. for the purposes of FGM.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 513,000 women and girls in the U.S. are at risk for this brutal procedure. And the number of potential FGM victims is likely vastly unreported. Despite the fact that the World Health Organization and the United Nations declared FGM a violation of human rights, more than 100 million women and girls are subjected to this torture around the world.
Faced with a growing refugee population originating from FGM-practicing countries—such as Somalia, where 98 percent of girls are cut, and Egypt, where 97 percent of girls are subjected to FGM—resources and the public are needed to expose this barbaric practice, which goes unreported, unsuspected and undetected.
EndFGMToday is spearheading a national campaign to publicize the FBI confidential hotline and tipline, and exposing FGM practices in the U.S. We must start now to break down this FGM code of silence, which subjects innocent, unsuspecting little girls to a lifetime of physical and emotional pain.
EndFGMToday urges the public, mandated reporters in schools and health facilities, and FGM victims to speak up and call the FBI hotline at (800) CALL-FBI or visit www.FBI.gov/FGM. Post this FBI hotline in offices, schools, transportation hubs, stores, hospitals and public spaces. Defend girls from the vicious assault of FGM.
Americans must demand that FGM no longer be imported and practiced in our country. It’s against the law. It violates the human rights of little girls, and its barbarism will not be tolerated here. The potential victims of female genital mutilation deserve and need the protection of law enforcement so that no girl will be subjected to this brutal sexual assault.