A petition to get the Obama administration to commission a report that would update statistics on the prevalence of women subjected to demale genital mutilation (FGM) in the US had collected more than 36,600 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
Jaha Dukureh, a 24-year-old survivor of FGM, created the petition as a first step in getting the United States to create a comprehensive plan to end FGM and provide services to people who have already been subjected to the practice.
People in every US state have signed the petition, with the most signatures coming from California and New York, said Change.org communications manager Shareeza Bhola.
“It is one of the top 10 fastest growing petitions on the site in the US,” Bhola said, adding that it is also one of the fastest growing women’s issue-related campaigns on the site this week. The Change.org petition has also collected at least one signature from 116 different countries.
The US government outlawed FGM in 1996, but at least 228,000 women in the US are thought to be affected, according to research from Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston.
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has issued his support for the campaign. Nafissatou Diop, of the UN’s United National Population (UNFPA) and Unicef joint program on FGM, spoke on behalf of Ban on its Monday US launch.
“This is a serious health and human rights issue,” said Diop. “The effects include depression, insecurity, pain, infections, incontinence and deadly complication in pregnancy and childbirth. While some may say FGM is a tradition, it constitutes a human rights violation that must cease.”
Campaigners are also working to collect more signatures on a letter written to the US Department of Health and Human Services by Joe Crowley, the Democratic congressman for New York’s 14th district.
“It’s fantastic that the Guardian has helped amplify the voices of brave American FGM survivors such as Jaha and joined the existing US movement towards ending FGM,” said Shelby Quast, a Senior Policy Advisor at international human rights advocacy group Equality Now. “We urge all members of the House of Representatives to sign and endorse Congressman Crowley and Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s letter calling for a strategic national action plan to end FGM, which would include an updated prevalence study, full implementation of the law, education and child protection measures in particular.”