According to a study of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than half a million women and girls in the United States live at risk of FGM, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported.
The number of U.S. women and girls who have undergone the actual procedures is unkown due to a lack of reliable data.
In fact there is no reliable data on this topic worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated as many as 140 million women have been subjected to the practice.
For the U.S. the CDC-study shows a threefold increase in recent years due to the rise in immigrants form countries where it is practiced. Women and girls with family rooted in Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia were most commonly found at risk in the U.S., the study said.
But what do we know about Europe?
It is not only our duty to find out how many girls are at risk in European countries, but to protect them from FGM.
Therefore Desert Flower Foundation will research FGM in Europe in 2016.
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