Little girls' genitals are being sliced up at high rates due to COVID-19

Two million more girls might be tortured with female genital mutilation just because of COVID-19 Sign Now Dear friends, Like a fire through dry grass, COVID-19 seems to burn the most quickly through communities that are already suffering. In Somalia, a country ranked 194th out of 195 on the Global Health Security Index, this is evident in the massive spike in female genital mutilation, or FGM, that has been recorded since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Sign the petition to implore Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s country representative for Somalia, to include the FGM crisis in the country's overall COVID-19 response. The FGM procedure is as brutal as it sounds. Girls, the majority of which are younger than 15 and some as young as 10, are forced to go under the knife. Their clitorises are sliced from their bodies, often without pain management or anesthesia. That comes as no surprise, as this procedure is wholly unnecessary and has absolutely no medical reason behind it — why would "cutters", as they are known, worry about pain when what they are doing is simply to torture and mutilate? This procedure exists only to police women's bodies, and take away any sexual pleasure. Some of these poor girls also undergo infibulation, during which the vaginal opening is sewn completely shut. Due to the desperation COVID-19 has caused, cutters are going door to door trying to find little girls on whom they can perform this horrifying procedure and it must be stopped. Sign the petition to demand Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik address the female genital mutilation crisis in Somalia immediately! Thank you,   Kelsey B. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. People are mutilating little girls' genitals in Somalia at an extremely high rate due to COVID-19. Sign on to protect the girls!