Page "Female genital mutilation" Paragraph 46

As a result of immigration, FGM spread to Australia, Europe, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.

As Western governments became more aware of the practice, legislation was passed to make it a criminal offence, though enforcement may be a low priority.

Sweden passed legislation in 1982, the first Western country to do so.

It is outlawed in New Zealand and in all Australian states and territories, and is a crime under section 268 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

It became illegal in the United States on 30 March 1997, though according to a U. S. Centers for Disease Control estimate, 168, 000 girls living there as of 1997 had undergone it or are at risk.

Nineteen-year-old Fauziya Kasinga, a member of the Tchamba-Kunsuntu tribe of Togo, was granted asylum in 1996 after leaving an arranged marriage to escape FGM, setting a precedent in U. S. immigration law because FGM was for the first time accepted as a form of persecution.