Obama joins fight against FGM
Following the landmark UN resolution against female genital
mutilation (Intensifying Global Efforts for the Elimination of
Female Genital Mutilations), US president Barack Obama has
strengthened the policy developments with further
legislation.
A new act, 'Transport for Female Genital Mutilation', has now been
signed by Obama and passed as an amendment to the National Defense
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013.
In a blog for the Huffington Post, Yasmeen Hassan, global director
of international human rights organisation Equality Now, says that
this new legislation sends a clear message to all: that FGM is a
criminal act that carries serious consequences.
Explaining the potential of a global consensus on FGM, she writes
that to be effective, legislation must be coupled with education
and widespread cooperation: "The collective assumption of our
responsibility and accountability in protecting vulnerable girls is
both a social and legal necessity."
Read the full blog post
Learn
more about the landmark FGM resolution