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URGENT
ALERT: UNITED STATES
29 April 2010
Equality Now calls on the American Academy of Pediatrics to retract a portion of their policy statement endorsing Type (IV) female genital mutilation of female minors
Read about American Academy of Pediatrics' positions on FGM.
On 26 April 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a “Policy Statement – Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors” (AAP Statement) that in effect promotes changes in US federal and state laws to “enable[] pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick” such as “pricking or incising the clitoral skin to satisfy cultural requirements.”
FGM is a harmful traditional practice with serious health risks that affects up to 140 million women and girls around the world. It is acknowledged internationally as a human rights violation and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. This practice involves the removal of various parts of female genitalia and is carried out across Africa, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as in locations where FGM-practicing immigrants reside, including the United States. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 1997 that over 168,000 girls and women living in the U.S. have either been, or are at risk of being, subjected to FGM.
Contrary to the assertion in the AAP Statement that the World Health Organization (WHO) is “silent on the pros and cons of pricking or minor incisions,” the WHO recognizes that pricking, piercing and incising of girls’ genitalia are forms of female genital mutilation (Type IV) with no health benefits and only harmful consequences. The WHO has acknowledged an increasing trend for medically trained personnel to perform FGM and has strongly urged health professions to refrain from performing such procedures. Furthermore, a United Nations interagency statement on “Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation” issued by 10 UN agencies in 2008 states, “[T]he guiding principles for considering genital practices as female genital mutilation should be those of human rights, including the rights to health, the rights of children and the right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex.”
Human rights groups in Africa and around the world have campaigned tirelessly for decades to put an end to FGM. International and African human rights instruments recognize that FGM is a harmful cultural practice that is steeped in inequality and is a form of gender-based violence and discrimination. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which is a groundbreaking women’s rights legal instrument, requires African States to prohibit all forms of FGM, including specifically the medicalization of FGM.
On 26 April 2010, ironically on the same date as the issuance of the AAP Statement, the United States Congress introduced new legislation amending the 1996 federal law prohibiting FGM to make it illegal to transport girls out of the country for purposes of FGM, also known as the “vacation provision.” Such laws exist in European countries with substantial immigrant populations and there is evidence that legislation can act as an effective tool as part of the strategy against FGM. The AAP Statement itself gives the example of Somali immigrants in Scandinavia who abandoned the practice due to legal consequences.
In light of all the work done by human rights groups, the United Nations and other organizations to eradicate all forms of FGM, as well as efforts in the United States to protect girls from this practice, the AAP Statement stands out as lacking clarity on the issue and fails to recognize the established basic principles of girls’ rights as affirmed and reaffirmed by international human rights standards. A reduction in the severity of a human rights violation does not minimize the gravity of such a violation.
Equality Now urges the AAP to retract the portions of its Statement that in effect promote changes in US federal and state laws to enable physicians to “nick” girls’ genitalia. Doctors must instead be encouraged to identify and protect girls at risk of FGM by advising and referring their patients’ parents to not-for-profit or government agencies that can help parents understand the consequences of FGM.
Recommended Actions
Please write to the American Academy of Pediatrics asking it to retract the portions of the AAP Statement that in effect promote changes in US federal and state laws to enable physicians to “nick” girls’ genitalia. Urge the Academy to abide by the principles of gender equality in its practice and to recognize that human rights are universal and indivisible. TAKE ACTION!
Letters should go to:
Errol R. Alden, M.D. FAAP
Executive Director/CEO, American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Blvd
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1019
Phone: +1 847 434 7500
Fax: +1 847 434 8385
Email: ealden@aap.org
Please send copies of your letters to the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Pediatrics at the addresses listed below:
Kevin B. Weiss, M.D., MPH
President and CEO, American Board of Medical Specialties
222 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: +1 312 436 2600
Fax: +1 312 436 2700
Email: kweiss@abms.org
Alan R. Cohen, M.D.
Chair, The American Board of Pediatrics
111 Silver Cedar Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Phone: +1 919 929 0461
Fax: +1 919 913 2070
Email: abpeds@abpeds.org
Please also ask your own doctor to take action on this issue.
Read Equality Now's letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Please keep Equality Now updated on your efforts and send copies of any replies you receive to info@equalitynow.org
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