Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation’s President, Angela Peabody, to Appear on HuffPost Live
July 23, 2014: Fairfax, VA. – The Obama administration has announced that it intends to conduct a major study into female genital mutilation. According to an article in the Guardian, the purpose of the study is an effort to establish how many women are living with the consequences of FGM in the United States and how many girls are at risk. The administration plans to also establish a working group to determine the extent of FGM in the U.S., and to come up with concrete plans to tackle the problem. The announcement came from a summit held in London on FGM and child marriage. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the intentional removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. This cultural act is currently practiced in approximately 29 countries in the world.
More than a month ago, an FGM survivor and activist, Jaha Dukureh led a campaign by soliciting 220,000 signatures. Ms. Dukureh delivered her signatures to Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY) and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) on June 4, 2014. Congressman Crowley read a bi-partisan letter to the Obama administration, signed by 58 members of the U.S. Congress. This morning, Angela Peabody, President of Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation sent a special message to Ms. Dukureh and Shelby Quast of Equality Now. The message stated, “Thank you for relentlessly working toward this day. It is a victory for all of us who have worked for many years on hoping and longing for an end to FGM. As all of us know, when the U.S. speaks, the world listens; therefore this is the first step toward ending FGM.” Peabody and her organization have made it the priority in their work against the practice of female genital mutilation. Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation will host their first 5K “Walk to End FGM” on November 8th in Washington, D.C. Peabody is scheduled to join the conversation on HuffPost Live the streaming network of the Huffington Post tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 pm ET.
The summer is high season for female genital mutilation on at-risk girls living in the U.S. Immigrant parents tend to arrange vacation trips to their countries of origin with the hidden purpose of having their daughters mutilated in their homelands. The specially designed trips are more commonly known as vacation cutting. The majority of the girls are citizens of the United States. The United Nations named FGM as a human rights violation. England’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, has announced that his country will prosecute parents found practicing FGM. For the entire Guardian article, please click this link:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/22/white-house-us-female-genital-mutilation