Ayaan Hirsi Ali,Founder of AHA Foundation
OUR ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS
LEND YOUR VOICE
TO PROTECT WOMEN AND GIRLS
AHA Foundation works to protect women and girls in the U.S. from female genital mutilation (FGM), child and forced marriage, and honor violence by advocating to expand and strengthen federal and state laws.
Download our Ban FGM Legislative Toolkit which has all the essential information and resources to help ban FGM in every state in the U.S.
FEDERAL LEGISLATION
URGE YOUR LEGISLATORS TO CLOSE THE CHILD MARRIAGE LOOPHOLES IN FEDERAL LAW
AHA was the first organization to identify the dangerous child marriage loopholes in the U.S. immigration code. Under federal law, there is no minimum age specified to petition for, or be the beneficiary of, a spousal visa or fiancé visa. Currently, the government looks to the law of the state where a couple will reside before issuing a spousal or fiancé visa. If child marriage is legal in that state, boys and girls can be trafficked for their U.S. citizenship or to the U.S. under the guise of marriage.
Urge your legislators to close the child marriage immigration loophole and eliminate the federal laws that enable and encourage child marriage.
STATE LEGISLATION
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST FGM
WHY WE NEED
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST FGM
Strong legislation against FGM:
- Sends a STRONG MESSAGE THAT FGM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the state
- GIVES PROSECUTORS THE TOOLS and access to resources to bring perpetrators to justice
- Signals to state prosecutors that FGM IS A CRIME that must be prosecuted
- Fills gaps in federal legislation such as EDUCATION AND OUTREACH TARGETED TO AT RISK COMMUNITIES and the professionals likely to encounter girls at risk of FGM
- PREVENTS GIRLS BEING TRAFFICKED ACROSS STATE BORDERS to perform FGM
CHECK THE STATUS AND STRENGTH OF ANTI-FGM LEGISLATION IN YOUR STATE
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE
Between 2000 and 2018, approximately 297,033 children were legally married in the U.S. A few were as young as 10.*
WHY DO WE NEED STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE
- Marriage laws are set by the state, and often contain loopholes, like parental or judicial consent, that make it possible for children to be entered into marriage.
- Child marriage is a recognized human rights abuse. States should not be a party to the abuse of minors.
- Each of the 297,000 children who’ve been married in the U.S. was granted a marriage license. The solution is simple: change the laws and end this harmful practice.
- Child marriage undermines statutory rape laws: some 60,000 marriages since 2000 occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.*
- State Legislation prevents girls from being victimized and married off, which jeopardizes their health and robs them of their education and economic freedom.
*Child Marriage in the United States: Prevalence and Implications, https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00341-4/fulltext#relatedArticles.
Amanda Parker, AHA Foundation’s Senior Director, protests child and forced marriage at New Jersey’s Penn Station in July 2016
Laws and policies against FGM, forced and child marriage, and honor violence, play a critical role in protecting women and girls against these abuses in the U.S.
YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
“Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali