Bill #1438, a bill that would ban FGM/C in Connecticut, has been voted out of the Judiciary Committee and is headed to the Senate. This current bill excludes our original language, which included educational provisions and civil remedies for survivors. Below is our official statement on the current state of Bill #1438:
The Connecticut Coalition to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) would like to express our sincerest appreciation and thanks to the Connecticut Legislature for raising Senate Bill 1438 – An Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation.
Our Coalition has worked for nearly five years to uplift FGM/C as a human rights violation and a form of gender-based violence that is impacting local girls in our state. In 2013, the Population Reference Bureau estimated that 2,658 women and girls in Connecticut were at risk of undergoing – or have already undergone – FGM/C. The state of Connecticut is one of the remaining nine states in the U.S. without any type of legal protections against FGM/C, and we recognize that Senate Bill 1438 is a huge step forward in ensuring we protect and prevent FGM/C from occurring to future generations of girls in our state.
As a survivor-led coalition, working to build holistic solutions to support survivors, we also believe more can be done and encourage amendments to strengthen and make the existing Senate Bill 1438 more comprehensive in terms of solutions toward ending the harmful practice. With survivors of FGM/C leading the way, fifteen other states and Washington D.C., have included community education and outreach provisions in their legislation to address FGM/C, both on the prevention side and the survivor support side. Connecticut has an opportunity to continue this path and become a leader in the U.S., working to address FGM/C in a holistic manner by listening to survivor voices and going above and beyond solely criminalizing FGM/C.
We thus invite Connecticut legislators to add amendments to provide survivors with support services, raise awareness of the harm FGM/C causes, and educate frontline professionals on how to provide culturally specific and sensitive care. Additionally, we request that the Bill use the World Health Organization’s definition of FGM/C to ensure that all survivors in the state can access justice.
FGM/C is a social norm, and it is a learned behavior that occurs from one generation to the next, much like how we know other forms of family violence are learned behaviors. Supporting comprehensive legislation that will raise awareness of the harmfulness of FGM/C, provide a means of redress for survivors, and make the practice illegal are all important components needed to break this cycle of generational violence.
Education is vital to include in this bill, as there is a misconception that FGM/C ONLY affects immigrant communities. However, we recognize that FGM/C does not discriminate and impacts individuals from over 94 countries, including those within the United States. FGM/C can occur to girls of all different backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, educational levels, cultures, religions, and citizenship statuses.
Forty-one states in the U.S. have a law which bans FGM/C — and we strongly encourage Connecticut to pass Senate Bill 1438, while also asking Connecticut to do more by including provisions for education and civil remedies in this bill.
Together, we can work to ensure this form of violence never happens to one more girl in our state.