Invisible and involuntary: female genital mutilation as a basis for asylum.

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 R I. GENERAL BACKGROUND OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION . 601 R II. GENERAL BACKGROUND OF ASYLUM LAW AND THE SOCIALGROUP CATEGORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 R A. The Definition of “Refugee” and “Persecution” . . . . . 604 R B. The “Particular Social Group” Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 R III. HISTORY OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION AS A BASIS FOR ASYLUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 R A. In re Kasinga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 R B. Developments in the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 R C. Recent Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 R IV. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION SHOULD BE A BASIS FOR ASYLUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 R V. THE VISIBILITY REQUIREMENT SHOULD NOT APPLY TO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 R A. History of Including the Visibility Requirement in the Definition of a Particular Social Group . . . . . . . . . 613 R B. The Cases in Which the Visibility Requirement Defeats the Asylum Claim Differ Substantively from Female Genital Mutilation Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614 R VI. OTHER AVENUES FOR ESTABLISHING ASYLUM BASED ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: ANALOGY TO INVOLUNTARY STERILIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 R A. History of Involuntary Sterilization as a Basis for Asylum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618 R B. History of Analogizing Female Genital Mutilation to Involuntary Sterilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 R C. Courts Should Accept the Analogy Between Female Genital Mutilation and Involuntary Sterilization . . . . . 621 R