WASHINGTON, D.C. : Togo Woman Wins Asylum in U.S.

A woman who left her home in Togo because she feared having her genitals cut off has been granted asylum in the United States by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Fauziya Kasinga, 19, has a well-founded fear of countrywide persecution and her fears are “on account of her social group,” so she should be granted asylum, the board said. Previously, immigration judges could only grant asylum to women who could show they would be mutilated if they returned to their countries and could prove that local authorities would not protect them. Kasinga arrived in the United States in December 1994, saying her family planned to force her to submit to genital mutilation.