Genital mutilation should be grounds for asylum: German minister

The minister for social affairs and equal opportunities of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Aminata Touré, called for the unrestricted recognition of female genital mutilation as grounds for asylum in Germany, in comments published on Wednesday by the newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, reported dpa.

If the federal government wants to unconditionally implement the Istanbul Convention on violence against women, this means "that the rights of refugee women and girls must now also be given greater consideration and gender-specific violence must be recognized as grounds for asylum," Touré told the newspaper in an interview seen by dpa in advance.

In addition, women and girls must be better informed about their rights.

"The mere fact that many of those affected do not know their rights exactly or do not dare to address the issue openly can reduce their chances in the asylum procedure," Touré said.

Therefore, employees of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) should be specially trained to sensitively address the situation of women asylum seekers, the state minister said.