From Burkina to Belgium, fighting women's corner from benches of hard-right

From Burkina to Belgium, fighting women's corner from benches of hard-right

When Assita Kanko was 10 years old, she pictured herself as president of her native Burkina Faso — with a mission to stamp out female genital mutilation, and further women’s rights. As it turned out, she sits as a Belgian lawmaker in the ranks of the hard-right in the European Parliament, and says that suits her just fine. The 44-year-old says she feels at home among the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) — one of three groups in the as…