The adoption today of a resolution against female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee is a major boost to civil society organizations fighting for an end to the abusive practice, Amnesty International said.

This is the first time the Assembly’s Third Committee, which addresses social, humanitarian and human rights issues, has adopted a resolution on FGM – the cutting of a girl’s genitalia often without anaesthetic in conditions that risk potentially fatal infection.

By MARÍA EUGENIA DÍAZ and WILLIAM NEUMAN

CARACAS, Venezuela — An arrested judge at the center of one of Venezuela’s most prominent human rights cases was raped while in prison and then had an abortion behind bars after becoming pregnant, according to the judge’s lawyer and a book published last week in Caracas that has stirred new controversy around the case.

By Eric V. Copage

It was the summer before high school, and Christopher Gavagan, then 13, was preparing to leave the safe familiarity of the friends he had known during his boyhood. With a plan to excel at ice hockey, he began training on inline skates, moving through his New York City neighborhood, up and down the streets until, he said, “I turned down the wrong street.”

By Nancy Palus

NOTE: This article contains graphic content that may be triggering for some readers.

By the CNN Wire Staff