The 11th of October 2019, I was invited for the Annual Network Meeting on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Amsterdam. The meeting was organized by Veilig Thuis Amsterdam-Amstelland and GGD Amsterdam in collaboration with FSAN (Federation of Somali Association of the Netherlands). The theme of this year’s meeting was: ‘Taking a look at FGM/C from a different perspective.’

Together with Dr. Refaat Karim (plastic surgeon) and Judith Dekker (gynecologist) I wrote an article that was published in a Dutch Medical Magazine about clitoral reconstructive surgery after Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. We claim that this surgery should be covered by basic health insurance in the Netherlands.

The 20th of September 2019, we attended a seminar entitled ‘Female Genital Mutilation vs Labia Correction Surgery: where are the boundaries?‘ organized by Maastricht University. I was invited as a panellist to share my thoughts in relation to the similarities and differences of both procedures.

The 19th of September 2019, an article about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) was published in ‘The Observant‘, the independent newspaper of Maastricht University.

In July 2019, I was invited by Gams Belgique to be a subject matter expert at the Community of Practice on Female Genital Mutilation (CoP FGM) discussion on the theme ‘Law and FGM’.