[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 103 (Wednesday, June 20, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S4278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO JAHA DUKUREH

 Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Jaha Dukureh for 
her Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
  A recent graduate of the University of Central Florida, Jaha was 
named one of TIME magazine's ``100 Most Influential People in the 
World'' in 2016 and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this 
year for her work to end female genital mutilation, FMG. She was born 
in The Gambia, a small west African country, and was subjected to 
female genital mutilation when she was just one week old.
  A documentary produced by the Guardian called ``The Girl Who Said No 
to FGM'' was made about her story. It details how her identity was 
stripped again when she was forced into an arranged marriage at the age 
of 15 in New York City and was cut for a second time.
  Since beginning her activism, Jaha helped usher in the ban of female 
genital mutilation in The Gambia. It is estimated that, by the age of 
14, nearly 56 percent of girls in The Gambia were subjected to FMG. She 
is also the first person to have been nominated for the Nobel Peace 
Prize from The Gambia.
  Jaha earned her bachelor's degree in business administration 
management at Georgia Southwestern State University in 2013. She 
graduated with her master's degree in nonprofit management from the 
University of Central Florida in 2018.
  I am honored to express my sincere gratitude to Jaha for her 
extraordinary leadership to end this horror and look forward to hearing 
of her continued work in the years to come.

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