Reframing Asylum Standards for Mutilated Women

Abstract

Women who have resisted and undergone female genital mutilation in the past are already within a paradigm of harm where it is possible they will undergo future harms. These harms, be they physical, economic, or forms of ostracism or retaliation, constitute persecution because of the applicant's past resistance and past mutilation. By recognizing that other harms inflicted on women can constitute persecution, women who have undergone female genital mutilation in the past can make successful claims for asylum based on past persecution.

Keywords: female genital mutilation, immigration, asylum, social group persecution, political persecution, sexual harm