[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO FAUZIYA KASINGA

                                 ______


                        HON. PATRICIA SCHROEDER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 18, 1996

  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Fauziya Kasinga, 
a 19-year-old woman from Togo, who was finally awarded the freedom for 
which she came to the United States. In a remarkable 11 to 1 decision, 
the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest immigration court in the 
land, ruled in favor of Fauziya last week. In so doing, the Board 
established a precedent not only in Fauziya's case, but for future 
women who flee their countries of origin to avoid being subjected to 
female genital mutilation [FGM].
  Although the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] had 
established guidelines in 1995 which state that FGM constitutes a form 
of political asylum, INS judges demonstrated various interpretations of 
such guidelines. In one occasion, a judge in Baltimore denied a woman's 
petition for political asylum, under FGM, because the woman couldn't 
change her gender, but she could change her mind with regards toward 
FGM practices.
  Fauziya's now-triumphant case was not any less difficult. While in 
several INS detention facilities, Fauziya was shackled in chains, tear-
gassed and beaten, and forced to spend her 18th and 19th birthdays in 
prisons intermingled with drug users and murderers. Thus, the decision 
the 11 Board members took in stating that FGM, an explicit violation of 
human rights, is a basis for political asylum is long overdue.
  Mr. Speaker, as I loudly applaud Fauziya's courage, I also want to 
humbly thank her for indisputably delivering a wake-up call to the rest 
of the Nation and the world on the human rights violation of FGM. Our 
immigration system has finally ``gotten it,'' and women fleeing FGM 
will not be told that their stories are not credible again.

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