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It's shocking that in this day and age, girls as young as four years old are dying in Somalia as a result of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The procedure is just as horrific as it sounds — it is truly genital mutilation. Little girls' clitorises are surgically removed, sometimes without proper anesthetic or aftercare. Side-effects include infection, severe bleeding, infertility, and — in the most terrible circumstances — even death.

Care2 member Steven Williams started a petition to demand that Somalia's Attorney General act now to stop this gruesome practice. The Attorney General must create a clear and decisive framework for prosecuting those child-torturers who carry out FGMs.

FGM is performed mostly on girls between the ages of four and 11, at the request of their parents and guardians who neither seek nor respect the girls' wishes or rights to bodily autonomy. This painful and nightmarish tradition is not promoted by Islam at all, and is even prohibited by Somalia's own constitution. Yet, so far, there has technically been no way of directly enforcing this ban.

Please join me in signing this petition and standing with innocent little girls who deserve safety, health, and wellness. We need to send a clear message to the Attorney General of Somalia that they must enforce the FGM ban and condemn this horrific and harmful practice.