(Yle) A citizens’ initiative on creating a law to specifically ban the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Finland is headed to the new Parliament for consideration by MPs. The initiative garnered a total of 61,266 signatures by the beginning of last October, but already reached the required 50,000 signature mark a few months earlier.
The document will be handed to MPs by humanitarian advocacy group World Vision Finland’s programme director Annette Gothóni and expert advisor Ujuni Ahmed, as well as the managing director of fashion textile firm Finlayson, Jukka Kurttila.
According to Finnish law, the act of genital mutilation is already considered to be aggravated assault. But Gothóni said a more specific law should be created.
