Story highlights Khalid Adem was convicted in 2006 of aggravated battery and cruelty to children in the first degree

FGM is a "global concern," the World Health Organization says

(CNN) An Ethiopian man convicted in Georgia of mutilating his 2-year-old daughter's genitals has been sent back to his home country by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE removed Khalid Adem, 41, on Monday after he served 10 years in prison. ICE officials said the case is thought to be the first criminal conviction in the United States for female genital mutilation, a widely scorned but persistent procedure the World Health Organization calls a "global concern."

"The practice is most common in the western, eastern, and northeastern regions of Africa, in some countries (in) the Middle East and Asia, as well as among migrants from these areas," WHO said.

"A young girl's life has been forever scarred by this horrible crime," Sean W. Gallagher, field office director for ICE's Atlanta Emergency and Removal Operations, said in a statement.

"The elimination of female genital mutilation/cutting has broad implications for the health and human rights of women and girls, as well as societies at large."

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