Women Solidarity Incorporated (WOSI) has expressed with great disappointment that women and girls are still being subjected to inhumane and gruesome treatments in the name of traditional Practices or culture in Liberia. Speaking to reporters recently, the Executive Director of WOSI, Mariam G Deah said while organizations respect culture, yet,…
Female genital circumcision, cutting, or female genital mutilation, is the practice of ritualistic cutting to remove all or a portion of a woman’s outer genitalia. There are different types of cutting and different reasons for it, including rite of passage, group identity, and preservation of virginity. The reasons depend on…
The House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 3317, Stopping Abusive Female Exploitation (SAFE) Act; legislation introduced by Congress Members Dave Trott (R-MI) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) to increase the federal penalty for female genital mutilation from 5 years to 15 years in prison and to encourage states to improve…
As of 2016, it was estimated that at least 200 million girls and women across 30 countries had experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM). This is the practice of partially or fully removing the external female genitalia and other forms of unnecessary injury, usually before the girl is 5 years old.…
Locally elected and appointed officials voted on the following matters in the past week: Federal • The House voted 231-198 in favor of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. The bill allows people with permits to carry concealed weapons to legally travel with those firearms to other states. Voting…
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 200 million women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), with an additional 3 million girls still at risk of receiving the procedure every year. A common cultural practice across diverse regions of Africa, as well as Asia and the Middle…
Young women from the U.S. are at increasing risk of a dangerous ritual known as female genital mutilation. Federal law enforcement has launched an awareness campaign about “vacation cutting.” SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Federal law enforcement has launched an awareness campaign to try to stop what’s known as vacation cutting. That’s…
LANSING, Mich. (WLUC) – A framework to allow individuals with a prior felony conviction to pursue employment at the Michigan Department of Corrections will be created under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Rick Snyder. Creating opportunities for previous offenders to have successful reentry into society was one of the key priorities…
In a bipartisan show of support, a proposed law to increase the federal penalty for female genital mutilation was passed unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 5. Sponsored by Rep. Dave Trott, a Republican from Birmingham, the Stopping Abusive Female Exploitation Act establishes a maximum 15-year prison…
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) Seleiman Bishagazi never enjoyed the benefits of a university education, but he’s smarter on a basic human rights issue than nearly anyone I’ve met in the world. This activist showed me what ground-level investigation, hard-core determination and a lot of community conversation taught him about the…