The Climate Crisis & Human Rights
By Nesha Abiraj It is an understood global reality that women and girls are facing the harshest impacts of the climate crisis. Yet we seldom hear advocates at the frontlines of the climate crisis, speaking to the impact on human rights. Thankfully, this is changing. In January of 2023, I was invited by the North County […]
Volunteer spotlight: Development Intern Shatize Pope
Shatize is a senior working towards her BA at Columbia University in New York. She is majoring in Human Rights with a specialisation in women’s studies and looking forward to attending NYU for law school to specialise in international law with the hopes of one day working for The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality […]
Aarefa Johari makes statement at Human Rights Council
On June 20th, Sahiyo co-founder Aarefa Johari submitted an online oral statement on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Asia at the United Nations’ 50th Human Rights Council. The statement was made on behalf of the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) and the Asia Network to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. The video statement […]
Joanna Vergoth chosen as 2021 CRAVE Foundation for Women honoree
We are proud to announce that Sahiyo U.S. Advisory Board Member Joanna Vergoth, LCSW, NCPsyA, was chosen as a 2021 CRAVE Foundation for Women grant recipient. She is a psychotherapist, specializing in trauma and was choosen as a recipient for her committed activism of over 20 years in helping those impacted by Female Genital Cutting […]
Who? A Zine About The Global Impact of FGC
By: Cate Cox In the fall of my junior year at university, I decided to take a course called “Human Rights and Global Literature.” In this class, we explored diverse kinds of literature that called into question different conceptions of human rights, including works by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Tadeusz Borowski, Vaddey Ratner, Farnoosh Moshiri, and […]
Mutilation or enhancement: A researcher’s argument for respectful terminology on genital cutting
By Brian D. Earp I have published several papers on the ethics of medically unnecessary genital cutting practices affecting children of all sexes and genders. When my writing touches on the sub-set of these practices that affect persons with characteristically female sex-typed genitals, I have received some pushback for using the term female genital cutting […]
Women should not be harmed because of societal norms
By Sakshi Rajani Age: 17 Country: India Female genital cutting (FGC): the term sounded ruthless the first time I heard it. It was not long ago that I was introduced to this term. While going through my Instagram feed, I read a story about a law student who was spreading awareness about FGC, and I […]
Sahiyo stands with AAPI communities experiencing racist violence
Sahiyo stands in solidarity with Asian communities and individuals who have been experiencing racism and hate crimes. We are an organization born from working with and supporting Asian communities. This violence concerns everyone and is of utmost importance to us, due to our proximity and connection to these communities. Sahiyo condemns the recent violence and […]
U.S. may deny asylum for females fleeing gender-based violence
By Hunter Kessous (Follow this link to take action immediately and stand with survivors before July 15th.) At the age of 17, Fauziya Kassindja narrowly escaped undergoing female genital cutting (FGC) and a forced marriage in her home country of Togo. She used a fake passport to make her way to the United States, and […]
Understanding the Supreme Court’s latest judgement mentioning female genital cutting in India
On November 14, after a year of silence on the female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C) case pending before it, the Supreme Court of India mentioned that the case will be referred to a seven-judge Constitution bench. It is likely that the case will now be heard in conjunction with three other petitions dealing with women’s […]