Though the practice was outlawed 30 years ago, this is Britain’s first conviction for female genital mutilation

A London mother was found guilty of subjecting her 3-year-old daughter to female genital mutilation on Friday in Britain’s first conviction for FGM – more than 30 years after the practice was outlawed.

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The probe comes after Ugandan media reported this week that armed groups had been forcefully conducting FGM in Kween district near the eastern border with Kenya.

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Deepa (who only has one name) is sitting desolate in the corner of the busy Thane railway station in Mumbai. She looks exhausted, weary and frightened after a long train journey that lasted 8 hours …

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“Mary” was nine years old when her childhood abruptly ended. Three men fed her sedatives then raped her. Her mother, who had been washing clothes in a stream near their home in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, got home to find her child lying on the ground distraught, her legs and dress stained with blood.

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Hundreds of under-age Egyptian girls enter temporary marriages with rich tourists from the Persian Gulf during the summer in return for money for their families. These unions – dubbed summer marriages – are not legally binding and end when the foreigners return to their own countries.

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Perhaps she could have pursued a career as a high-flying lawyer, but Ida Thien has absolutely no regrets.

Thien, 27, is one of the four founders of Closing The Gap (CTG), a social project that helps high-potential students from challenging backgrounds overcome hurdles in order to gain access to higher education.

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Young Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai says that “one child, one pen, one book and one teacher can change the world”. Aimen Rubab agrees but points out that problems arise if the child is a girl, the pen is not free, books are not available and teachers are “totally biased against female students”.

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