The poster is stamped with the statement that 137,000 women in the UK are living with the consequences of genital mutilation. But for the team behind the play Little Stitches, opening at a London theatre on Friday it is the individual stories behind the statistic that really matter. The four writers of the play, opening at Theatre503, […]

Britain’s first specialist clinic for child victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) is set to open in London next month. The clinic, at University College Hospital, will provide medical and psychological treatment for girls. Doctors will also carry out examinations if the police are not sure if mutilation has occurred. FGM includes procedures that remove […]

Our government has recently announced that Canada will contribute additional funding to UNICEF’s efforts to end child and forced marriage. This project will support efforts in six countries where the practice is prevalent: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Yemen and Zambia. While the concept of forced marriage seems foreign to most Canadians, the truth is that […]

Kanya thought she was starting a new life in Australia after arriving from India to marry her husband, but it quickly turned into a nightmare. She was barred from going out alone, forced to cook and clean for her partner’s family, and made to sleep outdoors if she did not complete her tasks. The fate of the 18-year-old, […]

Cosmopolitan beamed a harrowing and poignant image onto the Royal Opera House to coincide with David Cameron’s Girl Summit, in remembrance of the women killed in the name of honour by their own families. Cosmopolitan’s campaign, in partnership with Karma Nirvana, are dedicated to supporting victims of honour-based violence and forced marriage and pushed the […]

The picture is about a Yemeni girl who is forced to marry an old man and later raped by members of his family. Filmmaker Christhian Andrews hopes to use it as a teaser to raise money from the United Nations for a longer film on forced marriage and child abuse.   It must have been […]

Criminalisation of forced marriage became law today and Yasmin Khan of the Halo Project talks on BBC Radio Tees about it and its consequences. Play the clip from the interview below. Yasmin Khan talks on Criminalisation of forced marriages Yasmin Khan or use the player below (click the left hand on the var to start […]

A  petition that calls on the Obama administration to tackle the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the United States has been signed by nearly 200,000 people. Jaha Dukureh, a victim of FGM who has spearheaded the Change.org petition, will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet  some of the more than 50 […]

Aissa Edon, 32, was pinned down and mutilated when she was just  six-years-old. “I remember everything about it,” she says, “the place, the  smell, being held down. I remember screaming – it sounded like someone else, but  it was me – and I remember blood and intense pain. Pain I can’t even  describe.” Now a […]