Congress Must Support Efforts To Prevent FGM, Support Survivors

Roll Call: The Underground Epidemic: U.S. Female Genital Mutilation
Kristy Kumar, a Scoville fellow with the Center for National Policy and the Truman National Security Project

“…In a letter to Attorney General Holder, Secretary Kerry, Secretary Sebelius, Secretary Duncan, Administrator Shah and Director Burwell, Congressman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) urges the development of a comprehensive plan to implement the General Assembly resolution and the Girls Protection Act. Spearheading the anti-FGM movement are survivors like 24-year-old Jaha Dukureh, a Wells Fargo banker from Atlanta. … Congressman Crowley and former Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack’s reintroduction of the Girls Protection Act, along with Dukureh’s petition letter that garnered over 212,000 signatures, have proliferated a campaign to publicize an epidemic faced by up to 140 million women and girls around the world. … Survivors like Dukureh have exposed an underground epidemic onto the national stage. It is critical that members of Congress join Rep. Crowley in signing this letter so that the Obama administration feels the pressure to address the needs of FGM survivors…” (6/30).

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