{{Short description|US case about female genital mutilation}} {{italic title}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} The '''Matter of Kasinga''' was a legal case decided in June 1996 involving Fauziya Kassindja (surname also spelled as Kasinga), a Togolese teenager seeking asylum in the United States in order to escape a tribal practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).<ref>Dugger, Celia W. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/weekinreview/june-9-15-asylum-from-mutilation.html Asylum from Mutilation]". ''The New York Times''. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 8 August 2008.</ref> The Board of Immigration Appeals granted her asylum in June 1996 after an earlier judge denied her claims. This set a precedent in U.S. immigration law because it was the first time FGM was accepted as a form of persecution.<ref>Dugger, Celia W. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DB1439F935A25755C0A960958260 "June 9-15; Asylum From Mutilation"],''The New York Times'', 16 June 1996. * [https://www.justice.gov/eoir/efoia/kasinga7.pdf "In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695], U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, decided 13 June 1996. * Dugger, Celia W. [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/15/nyregion/woman-s-plea-for-asylum-puts-tribal-ritual-on-trial.html "Woman's Plea for Asylum Puts Tribal Ritual on Trial"], ''The New York Times'', 15 April 1996.</ref> In addition, this was the first situation in which asylum was granted based on gender.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Global feminism at the local level: Criminal and asylum laws regarding female genital surgeries|journal=Journal of Gender, Race and Justice|volume=3|pages=45–62}}</ref>
Layli Miller-Muro, the student attorney who represented Kassindja before the immigration judge, subsequently founded the Tahirih Justice Center to provide legal aid and medical referrals to immigrant women escaping from gender-based violence and persecution. Karen Musalo, who spearheaded the litigation leading to the Board's positive decision in the case, founded the [https://cgrs.uclawsf.edu/ Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS)], a national organization based at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, which works to protect and advance the rights of women, children, and LGBTI refugees that seek protection in the United States. Kassindja (aka Kasinga) is a member of the CGRS Advisory Board.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/about/staff|title=Staff & Board | Center for Gender and Refugee Studies}}</ref>
==See also== * Aminata Diop, a Malian woman who fled to France in 1989 to avoid FGM
==References== <references/>
==External links== * [https://www.pbs.org/speaktruthtopower/fauziya.html Speak Truth to Power - Fauziya Kassindja] * [https://www.justice.gov/eoir/efoia/kasinga7.pdf In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695, decided June 13, 1996] {{Female genital mutilation}}
Kasinga Category:History of women's rights in the United States Category:1996 in United States case law Category:Female genital mutilation Category:Right of asylum case law Category:Human rights in Togo Category:1996 in international relations Category:Right of asylum in the United States Category:Violence against women in Togo