FGM/C in the Americas: 5 things to know about the Inter-American Human Rights hearing

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a grave human rights violation that involves the partial or total removal or other injury to the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It affects over 230 million women and girls worldwide and occurs on every continent except Antarctica.

For far too long, global efforts to address FGM/C have focused primarily on Africa and parts of Asia; however, FGM/C is widely present in the Americas, including in the United States, Canada, and Colombia, impacting hundreds of thousands of women and girls.

Despite obligations under global and regional human rights law to end FGM/C and its lifelong physical and psychological harms, data gaps, inconsistent legal frameworks, and systemic discrimination persist, hindering comprehensive redress for women and girls. 

That’s why The Americas Alliance, made up of national, regional, and international organisations including the US End FGM/C Network, Sahiyo, End FGM Canada Network and Equality Now, requested a thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a key regional body of the Organization of American States charged with protecting human rights across the Americas. This dedicated hearing will mark the first time any international human rights mechanism has ever held a thematic hearing focused on FGM/C in the Americas. 

Below, we unpack why this matters and how Equality Now and partners are working to make it happen.

1. What is the hearing about, and why is it historic?

During the hearing, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will examine FGM/C as a regional concern in the Americas. Guidelines and recommendations from the IACHR  inform government action and shape legal standards across the region.

Together with experts, advocates, and survivors, we will share evidence that FGM/C should not be considered a hidden or imported issue; it’s a violation of human rights taking place across a number of States in the Americas. The hearing will provide an unprecedented opportunity to situate FGM/C within the regional human rights framework, demanding coordinated State action, accountability, and recognition that every woman and girl, wherever she lives, is entitled to bodily autonomy and protection from harm.

2. Why does FGM/C matter in the Americas?

FGM/C is very prevalent in the Americas, with over half a million women and girls living with or at risk of FGM in the US alone. FGM/C represents a clear violation of fundamental human rights, including the rights to bodily integrity, health, and non-discrimination, that affects real women and girls today. Beyond its lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, FGM/C reflects and reinforces systemic gender inequality, perpetuating discrimination, social marginalisation, and unequal access to justice and healthcare.

Addressing FGM/C in the region is urgent: without coordinated legal and policy responses, women and girls remain at risk, and governments fail to meet their obligations under international and regional human rights law. The upcoming IACHR hearing offers a chance to recognise these harms formally, drive state accountability, and ensure that prevention, protection, and survivor-centred interventions are prioritised across the Americas.

3. What are the key obstacles the hearing could help address?

Efforts to eliminate FGM/C across the Americas face several structural and social barriers. Even where national laws exist, few countries have developed comprehensive implementation plans or allocated sufficient resources for prevention and survivor support. Data collection remains scarce, leaving policymakers without an accurate picture of the scale or patterns of risk.

Social barriers are equally complex. In many affected communities, FGM/C is treated as a private or cultural matter, which discourages reporting and intervention. Survivors often encounter stigma or disbelief when they seek help. The IACHR hearing could help dismantle these barriers by formally recognising FGM/C as a regional human rights concern, encouraging governments to collect comprehensive, disaggregated data, and strengthening the mandate for cross-border cooperation on prevention and accountability.

4. What impact could the hearing have for women and girls, and for wider society?

The hearing has the potential to set a new precedent for advancing women’s and girls’ rights in the Americas. A formal acknowledgement by the IACHR of the persistence of FGM/C across the region could then establish a regional record that FGM/C violates women’s and girls’ rights under existing OAS treaties, reinforce States’ obligations to prevent and eliminate FGM/C under existing human rights law, and pave the way for stronger domestic enforcement and more robust survivor protections. 

A thematic hearing on FGM/C could lay the groundwork for new jurisprudence on this issue, developing legal reasoning, precedents, and recommendations that future advocates, lawyers, and institutions could rely on to strengthen accountability. This could inform subsequent thematic reports, State hearings, and country visits, embedding FGM/C more firmly within the region’s human rights agenda.

In Colombia, where a bill to eradicate FGM/C is currently under discussion in Congress, the hearing could provide renewed momentum to legislative efforts, reinforcing the urgency of enacting comprehensive legal measures to address this harmful practice.

It could also shift public and institutional understanding. By reframing FGM/C as a human rights violation, the potential outcomes of the hearing could challenge governments and institutions to take ownership of the issue. In the long term, this could catalyse reforms in education, health, and justice systems that benefit women and girls at risk of or who have experienced FGM/C.

The hearing has the potential to enhance protection and justice for survivors and create a sustainable legal and policy framework for addressing harmful practices more broadly. In the long term, this could drive transformative change in how societies across the Americas safeguard bodily autonomy and gender equality.

5. What should lawyers, CSOs, donors, and advocates know and do now?

This hearing is a call to action for all sectors engaged in human rights and gender equality.

• Lawyers should consult our training manual and monitor discussions during and after the hearing to assess how potential outcomes could be used to strengthen domestic legal arguments and accountability.

• Civil society organisations should leverage this moment to strengthen regional networks and amplify survivor voices.

• Donors should prioritise long-term funding for prevention, survivor services, and research to fill critical evidence gaps.

• Advocates must continue to push for full compliance with international obligations, ensuring FGM/C is addressed within broader frameworks on violence against women and girls.

Sustained, coordinated engagement before, during, and after the hearing will determine how this historic moment translates into measurable progress for women and girls across the Americas.

Watch the hearing live here: https://www.youtube.com/@CIDH_IACHR/videos 2 PM ET 17 November 2025.