The militant Islamist group Islamic State (ISIS – formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has ordered that all women in Mosul, northern Iraq, must undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
United Nations official Jacqueline Badcock, based in Irbil, said the fatwa applied to all women aged 11 to 46, which could result in the cutting of 4 million women and girls.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 2012 calling for the end to the practice in all nation states.
Islamic State took control of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, on June 10.
Since then there has been increasing persecution of minority groups, including Christians, Shiite Turkmen, Shabak and Yazidis, along with the enforcement of extreme Sunni Islamic teaching.
