Approximately 13,000 underage girls living in Germany are at risk of being forced to undergo genital mutilation, according to a new report by Terre des Femmes, a German nongovernmental organization. The number increased by 4,000 from last year. Most of the girls considered at risk recently moved to Germany from countries like Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, where female genital mutilation is still a common practice. Earlier this year German officials announced a crack down on female genital mutilation, and the families consenting to the procedure. UNICEF describes the practice as a violation of girls’ “right to be free from torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.”
