In re Kasinga

US case about female genital mutilation

The Matter of Kasinga was a legal case decided in June 1996 involving Fauziya Kassindja (surname also spelled as Kasinga), a Togolese teenager seeking asylum in the United States in order to escape a tribal practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).[1] The Board of Immigration Appeals granted her asylum in June 1996 after an earlier judge denied her claims. This set a precedent in U.S. immigration law because it was the first time FGM was accepted as a form of persecution.[2] In addition, this was the first situation in which asylum was granted based on gender.[3]

Layli Miller-Muro, the student attorney who represented Kassindja before the immigration judge, subsequently founded the Tahirih Justice Center to provide legal aid and medical referrals to immigrant women escaping from gender-based violence and persecution. Karen Musalo, who spearheaded the litigation leading to the Board's positive decision in the case, founded the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), a national organization based at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law, which works to protect and advance the rights of women, children, and LGBTI refugees that seek protection in the United States. Kassindja (aka Kasinga) is a member of the CGRS Advisory Board.[4]

## See also[edit]

* Aminata Diop, a Malian woman who fled to France in 1989 to avoid FGM

## References[edit]

1. ^ Dugger, Celia W. "Asylum from Mutilation". The New York Times. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
2. ^ Dugger, Celia W. "June 9-15; Asylum From Mutilation",The New York Times, 16 June 1996.
* "In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695, U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, decided 13 June 1996.
* Dugger, Celia W. "Woman's Plea for Asylum Puts Tribal Ritual on Trial", The New York Times, 15 April 1996.
3. ^ "Global feminism at the local level: Criminal and asylum laws regarding female genital surgeries". Journal of Gender, Race and Justice. 3: 45–62.
4. ^ "Staff & Board | Center for Gender and Refugee Studies".

## External links[edit]

* Speak Truth to Power - Fauziya Kassindja
* In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695, decided June 13, 1996

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Female genital mutilation

Health issues|

* Clitoridectomy
* Dysmenorrhea
* Dyspareunia
* Gishiri cutting
* Husband stitch
* Infibulation
* Keloid scars
* Pelvic inflammatory disease
* Rectovaginal fistula
* Vesicovaginal fistula

By country|

* Prevalence by country
* Laws by country
* FGM in India
* colonial Kenya
* Kurdistan
* New Zealand
* Nigeria
* Sierra Leone
* Sudan
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Religious views on FGM

Writers/groups|

| Early writers
and activists|

* Raqiya Haji Dualeh Abdalla
* Janice Boddy
* Mary Daly
* Efua Dorkenoo
* Asma El Dareer
* Benoîte Groult
* Rose Oldfield Hayes
* Fran Hosken
* Edna Adan Ismail
* Nawal El Saadawi
* Lilian Passmore Sanderson
* Marion Scott Stevenson
* Hulda Stumpf
* Nahid Toubia
* Amina Warsame

|

Others|

* Fuambai Ahmadu
* Ayaan Hirsi Ali
* Waris Dirie
* Ellen Gruenbaum
* Asha Ismail
* Gerry Mackie
* Molly Melching
* Layli Miller-Muro
* Comfort Momoh
* Alice Walker

Groups|

* Babiker Bedri Scientific Association for Women's Studies
* Equality Now
* FORWARD
* Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children
* RAINBO
* Tostan
* Tahirih Justice Center
* Zero Tolerance Day

Media|

| Books|

* Woman at Point Zero (1975)
* Woman, Why Do You Weep? (1982)
* Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992)
* Desert Flower (1998)

|

Films|

* Moolaadé (2004)
* Desert Flower (2009)
* My Body My Rules (2015)

Legislation|

* Matter of Kasinga
* Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985
* Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
* 2005 (Scotland) Act
* Children Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2019

Categories|

* Female genital mutilation
* Activists against female genital mutilation

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