Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

===Non-practising countries===
====Overview====
{{Further|Prevalence of female genital mutilation}}
Immigration spread the practice to Australia, [[Female genital mutilation in New Zealand|New Zealand]], Europe, and North America, all of which outlawed it entirely or restricted it to consenting adults.<ref>Australia: [http://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/ReviewofAustraliasfemalegenitalmutilationlegalframework/Review%20of%20Australias%20female%20genital%20mutilation%20legal%20framework.pdf "Review of Australia's Female Genital Mutilation Legal Framework"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305202920/https://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/ReviewofAustraliasfemalegenitalmutilationlegalframework/Review%20of%20Australias%20female%20genital%20mutilation%20legal%20framework.pdf |date=5 March 2016 }}, Attorney General's Department, Government of Australia.{{pb}}
New Zealand: [http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329734.html#DLM329734 "Section 204A&nbsp;– Female genital mutilation&nbsp;– Crimes Act 1961"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123061721/http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329734.html#DLM329734 |date=23 November 2011 }}, New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office.{{pb}}
Europe: [http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-violence/eliminating-female-genital-mutilation/index_en.htm "Eliminating female genital mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808183953/http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-violence/eliminating-female-genital-mutilation/index_en.htm |date=8 August 2014 }}, European Commission.{{pb}}
United States: [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/116 "18 U.S. Code § 116 – Female genital mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803012933/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/116 |date=3 August 2014 }}, Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School.{{pb}}
Canada: [http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-268.html Section 268], Criminal Code, Justice Laws website, Government of Canada.</ref> Sweden outlawed FGM in 1982 with the ''Act Prohibiting the Genital Mutilation of Women'', the first Western country to do so.<ref name=EigeSweden>[http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/current_situation_and_trends_of_female_genital_mutilation_in_sweden_en.pdf "Current situation of female genital mutilation in Sweden"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319112455/http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/current_situation_and_trends_of_female_genital_mutilation_in_sweden_en.pdf |date=19 March 2017 }}, European Institute for Gender Equality, European Union.</ref> Several former colonial powers, including Belgium, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, introduced new laws or made clear that it was covered by existing legislation.{{sfn|Boyle|2002|loc=97}} {{As of|2013}}, legislation banning FGM had been passed in 33 countries outside Africa and the Middle East.<ref name=UNICEF2013p8/>

====North America====
{{Further|Female genital mutilation in the United States}}
In the United States, an estimated 513,000 women and girls had experienced FGM or were at risk as of 2012.<ref name=CDC2016>[http://www.publichealthreports.org/documents/fgmutilation.pdf "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the United States: Updated Estimates of Women and Girls at Risk, 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221153549/http://www.publichealthreports.org/documents/fgmutilation.pdf |date=21 December 2017 }}. ''Public Health Reports''. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. March–April 2016, 131.</ref><ref>Turkewitz, Julie (6 February 2015). [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/us/genital-cutting-cases-seen-more-as-immigration-rises.html "Effects of Ancient Custom Present New Challenge to U.S. Doctors: Genital Cutting Cases Seen More as Immigration Rises"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131004639/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/us/genital-cutting-cases-seen-more-as-immigration-rises.html |date=31 January 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref>{{efn|The Centers for Disease Control's previous estimate was 168,000 as of 1990.{{sfn|Jones|Smith|Kieke|Wilcox|1997|loc=372}}}} A Nigerian woman successfully contested deportation in March 1994, asking for "cultural asylum" on the grounds that her young daughters (who were American citizens) might be cut if she took them to Nigeria,<ref>Rudloff, Patricia Dysart (1995). [https://web.archive.org/web/20010220043053/http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Diana/fulltext/rudl.htm "In Re: Oluloro: Risk of female genital mutilation as 'extreme hardship' in immigration proceedings"]. ''Saint Mary's Law Journal'', 877.{{pb}}
{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/04/us/an-ancient-ritual-and-a-mother-s-asylum-plea.html|title=An Ancient Ritual and a Mother's Asylum Plea|last=Egan|first=Timothy|date=4 March 1994|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 November 2019|archive-date=3 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903094757/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/04/us/an-ancient-ritual-and-a-mother-s-asylum-plea.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1996 [[Matter of Kasinga|Fauziya Kasinga]] from [[Togo]] became the first to be officially granted asylum to escape FGM.<ref>Dugger, Celia W. (16 June 1996). [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DB1439F935A25755C0A960958260 "June 9–15; Asylum From Mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621232551/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html%3Fres%3D9C05E1DB1439F935A25755C0A960958260 |date=21 June 2020 }}. ''The New York Times''.{{pb}}
[https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2000/03/28/kasinga7.pdf "In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304040921/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2000/03/28/kasinga7.pdf |date=4 March 2017 }}. U.S. Department of Justice. Executive Office for Immigration Review, decided 13 June 1996.</ref> In 1996 the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act made it illegal to perform FGM on minors for non-medical reasons, and in 2013 the Transport for Female Genital Mutilation Act prohibited transporting a minor out of the country for the purpose of FGM.<ref name=CDC2016/>{{rp|2}} The first FGM conviction in the US was in 2006, when [[Khalid Adem]], who had emigrated from Ethiopia, was sentenced to ten years for aggravated battery and cruelty to children after severing his two-year-old daughter's clitoris with a pair of scissors.<ref>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm "Man gets 10-year sentence for circumcision of 2-year-old daughter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902134855/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm |date=2 September 2017 }}. Associated Press, 1 November 2006.</ref> A federal judge ruled in 2018 that the 1996 Act was unconstitutional, arguing that FGM is a "local criminal activity" that should be regulated by states.<ref name=Schmidt21Nov2018>Schmidt, Samantha (21 November 2018). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/judge-rules-that-federal-law-banning-female-genital-mutilation-is-unconstitutional/2018/11/21/a9455728-edd2-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html "Judge rules that federal law banning female genital mutilation is unconstitutional"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820223532/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/judge-rules-that-federal-law-banning-female-genital-mutilation-is-unconstitutional/2018/11/21/a9455728-edd2-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html |date=20 August 2020 }}. ''The Washington Post''.</ref>{{efn|The judge made his ruling during a case against members of the [[Dawoodi Bohra]] community in Michigan accused of carrying out FGM.<ref name=Schmidt21Nov2018/>}} Twenty-four states had legislation banning FGM as of 2016,<ref name=CDC2016/>{{rp|2}} and in 2021 the STOP FGM Act of 2020 was signed into federal law.<ref>Batha, Emma (7 January 2021). [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-law-fgm/us-toughens-ban-on-abhorrent-female-genital-mutilation-idUSKBN29C2OF "U.S. toughens ban on 'abhorrent' female genital mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108140215/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-law-fgm/us-toughens-ban-on-abhorrent-female-genital-mutilation-idUSKBN29C2OF |date=8 January 2021 }}. Reuters.</ref> The [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] opposes all forms of the practice, including pricking the clitoral skin.{{efn|In 2010 the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that "pricking or incising the clitoral skin" was a harmless procedure that might satisfy parents, but it withdrew the statement after complaints.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Female Genital Mutilation|journal=Pediatrics|volume=102|issue=1|date=1 July 1998|pages=153–156|doi=10.1542/peds.102.1.153|pmid=9651425|doi-access=free}}{{pb}}
Withdrawn policy: {{cite journal|title=Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors|journal=Pediatrics|volume=125|issue=5|date=1 May 2010|pages=1088–1093|pmid=20421257|doi=10.1542/peds.2010-0187|doi-access=free|author1=American Academy of Pediatrics Board of Directors}}{{pb}}
Pam Belluck, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html "Group Backs Ritual 'Nick' as Female Circumcision Option"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118095546/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html |archive-date=2022-01-02 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |date=18 January 2018 }}{{cbignore}}, ''The New York Times'', 6 May 2010.</ref>}}

Canada recognized FGM as a form of persecution in July 1994, when it granted refugee status to Khadra Hassan Farah, who had fled Somalia to avoid her daughter being cut.<ref name=Farnsworth1994>Farnsworth, Clyde H. (21 July 1994). [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/21/world/canada-gives-somali-mother-refugee-status.html "Canada Gives Somali Mother Refugee Status"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813224305/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/21/world/canada-gives-somali-mother-refugee-status.html |date=13 August 2017 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref> In 1997 section 268 of its ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' was amended to ban FGM, except where "the person is at least eighteen years of age and there is no resulting bodily harm".<ref>[http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-268.html Section 268] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502191321/https://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/ReviewofAustraliasfemalegenitalmutilationlegalframework/Review%20of%20Australias%20female%20genital%20mutilation%20legal%20framework.pdf |date=2 May 2019 }}. Criminal Code of Canada.</ref><ref name=UNICEF2013p8/> {{As of|2019|2}}, there had been no prosecutions. Officials have expressed concern that thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of being taken overseas to undergo the procedure, so-called "vacation cutting".<ref>Portenier, Giselle (6 February 2019). [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-will-canada-take-action-for-girls-who-endure-fgm/ "When will Canada take action for girls who endure FGM?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202074503/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-will-canada-take-action-for-girls-who-endure-fgm/ |date=2 December 2020 }}. ''The Globe and Mail''.</ref>

====Europe====
{{Further|Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom}}
According to the European Parliament, 500,000 women in Europe had undergone FGM {{as of|2009|03|lc=y}}.{{sfn|Yoder|Wang|Johansen|2013|loc=195}} In France up to 30,000 women were thought to have experienced it as of 1995. According to Colette Gallard, a family-planning counsellor, when FGM was first encountered in France, the reaction was that Westerners ought not to intervene. It took the deaths of two girls in 1982, one of them three months old, for that attitude to change.{{sfn|Gallard|1995|loc=1592}}<ref name=Rowling/> In 1991 a French court ruled that the [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees]] offered protection to FGM victims; the decision followed an asylum application from [[Aminata Diop]], who fled an FGM procedure in Mali.<ref>Jana Meredyth Talton, "Asylum for Genital-Mutilation Fugitives: Building a Precedent", [[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]], January/February 1992, 17.</ref> The practice is outlawed by several provisions of France's penal code that address bodily harm causing permanent mutilation or torture.<ref>[http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/current_situation_and_trends_of_female_genital_mutilation_in_france_en.pdf "Current situation of female genital mutilation in France"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207130739/http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/current_situation_and_trends_of_female_genital_mutilation_in_france_en.pdf |date=7 February 2016 }}, European Institute for Gender Equality, European Union.</ref><ref name=Rowling>Megan Rowling [http://news.trust.org//item/?map=france-reduces-genital-cutting-with-prevention-prosecutions-lawyer/ "France reduces genital cutting with prevention, prosecutions – lawyer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101055918/http://news.trust.org/item/?map=france-reduces-genital-cutting-with-prevention-prosecutions-lawyer%2F |date=1 January 2017 }}, Thomson Reuters Foundation, 27 September 2012.</ref><!--find source: All children under six who were born in France undergo medical examinations that include inspection of the genitals, and doctors are obliged to report FGM.--> The first civil suit was in 1982,{{sfn|Gallard|1995|loc=1592}} and the first criminal prosecution in 1993.<ref name=Farnsworth1994/> In 1999 a woman was given an eight-year sentence for having performed FGM on 48 girls.<ref>[[David Gollaher]], ''Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery'', New York: Basic Books, 2000, 189.</ref> By 2014 over 100 parents and two practitioners had been prosecuted in over 40 criminal cases.<!--check source--><ref name=Rowling/>

Around 137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales were born in countries where FGM is practised, as of 2011.<ref>Alison Macfarlane and [[Efua Dorkenoo]], [http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/FGM%20EN%20City%20Estimates.pdf "Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815112821/http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/FGM%20EN%20City%20Estimates.pdf |date=15 August 2015 }}, [[City University of London]] and [[Equality Now]], 21 July 2014, 3.{{pb}}
[http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Study%20to%20map%20the%20current%20situation%20and%20trends%20on%20FGM%20-Country%20reports%20-%20MH3212540ENN.pdf "Country Report: United Kingdom"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319112338/http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Study%20to%20map%20the%20current%20situation%20and%20trends%20on%20FGM%20-Country%20reports%20-%20MH3212540ENN.pdf |date=19 March 2017 }}, ''Study to map the current situation and trends of FGM: Country reports'', European Institute for Gender Equality, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013, 487–532.{{pb}}
For an early article on FGM in the UK, see {{harvnb|Black|Debelle|1995}}</ref> Performing FGM on children or adults was outlawed under the [[Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985]].<ref><!--add secondary source-->[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/38/contents ''Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101055729/http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ilr/article/view/36076 |date=1 January 2017 }}, legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.</ref> This was replaced by the [[Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003]] and [[Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005]], which added a prohibition on arranging FGM outside the country for British citizens or permanent residents.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31 Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714134537/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31 |date=14 July 2017 }} and [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2005/8/contents "Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005"], legislation.gov.uk.</ref>{{efn|[[Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003]]: "A person is guilty of an offence if he excises, infibulates or otherwise mutilates the whole or any part of a girl's labia majora, labia minora or clitoris", unless "necessary for her physical or mental health". Although the legislation refers to girls, it applies to women too.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31 "Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714134537/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31 |date=14 July 2017 }}, legislation.gov.uk, and [http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/female_genital_mutilation/#a02 "Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908183829/http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/female_genital_mutilation/#a02 |date=8 September 2013 }} (legal guidance), Crown Prosecution Service: "The Act refers to 'girls', though it also applies to women."</ref>}} The United Nations [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women|Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]] (CEDAW) asked the government in July 2013 to "ensure the full implementation of its legislation on FGM".<ref>[[#CEDAW2013|CEDAW, July 2013]], 6, paras&nbsp;36, 37.</ref> The first charges in England and Wales were brought in 2014 against a physician and another man; the physician had stitched an infibulated woman after opening her for childbirth. Both men were acquitted in 2015.<ref>Sandra Laville, [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/doctor-not-guilty-fgm-dhanuson-dharmasena "Doctor found not guilty of FGM on patient at London hospital"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206042151/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/doctor-not-guilty-fgm-dhanuson-dharmasena |date=6 February 2018 }}, ''The Guardian'', 4 February 2015.</ref> The first successful conviction was that of a Ugandan mother, who was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales on 1 February 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47094707|title=FGM: Mother guilty of genital mutilation of daughter|publisher=BBC News|date=1 February 2019|accessdate=1 February 2019}}</ref> On 8 March 2019, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47502089|title=Mother jailed for 11 years over FGM|publisher=BBC News|date=8 March 2019|accessdate=8 March 2019}}</ref> The second successful conviction was another mother, 39-year-old Amina Noor, a Kenyan woman living in [[Harrow, London|Harrow]], [[North London]], who had taken her (then) 3-year-old daughter to Kenya for mutilation in 2006, when the mother was aged 22. As of February 2024, she was sentenced to 7 years in prison. She was the first convicted person to have taken someone abroad for the act; she had herself been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation when she was 6 years old.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ngz2redmdo.amp|title=FGM: Woman jailed for taking girl, 3, for mutilation loses appeal|date=4 July 2024|website=BBC News}}</ref>
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