Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide

This book is a report on the prevalence of female circumcision and female genital mutilation (FC/FGM) and on the use of law and policy to address these practices. This work places FC/FGM firmly within a human rights and legal framework, although it does recognise and address the challenges inherent to this discourse. The authors look at the history of FC/FGM; its consequences for women’s health; the reasons used to justify it – i.e. culture, control over women’s sexuality, tradition, interpretation of religious directives; and the history of movement’s working to combat it. After giving this general overview, the chapters of this book delve into a case by case study of 41 countries – both in the global North and South – which not only look at the prevalence of FC/FGM in each country, but also analyse laws and other measures put in place to combat or prevent it. The authors suggest solutions to this problem through an actual implementation of human rights treaties and conclude with recommending governmental, international, and non-governmental actions.