STOP FGM NOW
FGM: it is now time to finally stop this evil practice.
Why has no one ever been convicted in Britain, despite the practice being illegal for 30 years?
What is FGM?
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.[i]
It's also known as female circumcision or cutting and there are a number of traditional terms used too.[ii] It is regarded nationally and internationally as a cultural phenomenon and not a religious one. It is cruel and evil. It is not supported by any religious teachings.
However to be clear FGM is a crime in the UK. It is a fundamental breach of women and girls human rights. It is one of the severest forms of child abuse in girls under 18 years.
FGM is most often committed against girls from weeks old to 15 year, although it can happen in older girls and women. Girls under 18 year i.e. children cannot consent to this physically and mentally dangerous act against them.
There are no medical reasons to carry out FGM. It doesn't enhance fertility and it doesn't make childbirth safer. It is used to control female sexuality and sexual autonomy and can cause severe and long-lasting damage to physical and emotional health, even death. See the WHO’s fact sheet for more informed information.[iii]
The Police Service has blamed a lack of evidence for the failure to convict a single person in Britain for female genital mutilation (FGM), despite recent estimates that 137,000 women and girls in the England and Wales have been affected by FGM.[iv] Officers are currently carrying out searches at airports in the last days of the school holidays during what is graphically known as the "cutting season," when girls are taken abroad to be mutilated, often (but not exclusively) to countries in Africa.
This harmful practice has been illegal in the UK since 1985 and the NSPCC says that 70 women a month seek treatment for the crime, but despite more FGM cases than ever being investigated, these probes aren't leading to charges or convictions, according to figures released after a freedom of information (FOI) request. Why?
If you're a health or social care professional or a teacher:
Health workers who treat mutilated girls after FGM have not always reported it to police because they may consider it ‘only a health issue’ or may not be confident around the patient confidentially laws, although this has improved in recent years.
Mandatory reporting requirements
Regulated health and social care professionals and teachers in England and Wales must report ‘known’ cases of FGM in under 18s to the police within one month. A ‘known case’ is one whereby the girls under 18 discloses or tells a regulated professional she’s undergone FGM or the professional sees physical signs of what they suspect to be FGM (Section 74 Serious Crime Act 2015).
The evidence is there in front of you. If a girl has had type III it would obvious she has undergone FGM. If I was to allow my daughters to be abused by others, I would face prosecution and prison, quite rightly so, so why aren’t the parents of girls and those responsible for practicing the act of FGM prosecuted? FGM is one of the severest forms of child abuse in girls under 18 years.
You are legally obliged to report cases where you know, or have reason to suspect, that FGM has been carried out and the victim is under 18 years old.
Read about: FGM_Mandatory_Reporting_-_procedural_information_nov16_FINAL.pdf
If you think you’re at risk of FGM
If you're worried that you may be at risk of FGM, you should talk to someone you trust like a teacher or school nurse. They will be able to help and protect you.
Remember that no one is allowed to hurt you physically or emotionally, and FGM is not allowed in this country. It is a crime in the UK.
If you would rather speak to someone who doesn’t know you and your family, there are organisations that can help you, including:
the NSPCC, which has an FGM helpline you can call on 0800 028 3550 at any time - it’s free and you don’t have to tell them your name (you can also email: fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk)
FORWARD, which can give you information and one-to-one support - you can call them on 020 8960 4000 (Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm) or email: atsupport@forwarduk.org.uk
If you’re worried about someone you know
Call the NSPCC’s FGM helpline on 0800 028 3550 or email fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk if you're worried a girl or young woman is at risk of (or has had) FGM.
GOV.UK has more information on what to do if you know somebody at risk including what to do if you think she might have been taken abroad.
The NSPCC’s website tells you how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/female-genital-mutilation-fgm/signs-symptoms-and-effects/
Apply for a protection order (Section 73 Serious Crime Act 2015)
If you think you or someone you know personally or professionally is at risk of FGM, you can get a female genital mutilation protection order.
A civil protection order could, for example, force parents to hand over their daughter’s passport, so she can’t be taken abroad.
Anyone who doesn’t comply with or breaches a civil protection order can get up to 5 years in prison.
https://www.gov.uk/female-genital-mutilation-protection-order
What action should be taken?
Amnesty International, which has campaigned for a Europe-wide approach to FGM, does not believe that a legal approach is the answer. They say that “The debate in the UK about more prosecutions misses the point. Legal repression, although it may have its place, is not the best answer.”
So while we wait to ‘educate’ affected communities how many hundreds of girls are going to be made to suffer this cruel practice? Educate by all means but not at the expense of prosecution. Our Law, Police, CPS, Social Services, etc. are failing these young girls.
Social Services take children away from their parents for less serious cases, rightly so if that child is at risk, so why aren’t we prepared to care for these cruelly abused girls in the same manner? If they allow their daughters, or are planning to undergo such an evil practice they forfeit any rights to be parents. Not only are their own communities failing them; we are too.
Britain has purpose-made laws against female genital mutilation (FGM) but there have been no successful prosecutions. France has no specific laws against FGM. Following an explosion of media and public rage in the late 1970s, the French state began to prosecute parents and ‘cutters’ under its existing laws against grievous bodily harm and violence to children. There have been about 100 parents and cutters convicted. Not many but a step in the right direction.
Yes, we must educate, starting with young children at schools, the communities and families but must also prosecute using any law that will result in the conviction and imprisonment of these cruel and misguided people. This would include the parents, cutters and anyone else that conspires to genitally mutilate girls.
The talking has got to stop and real action happen. Successful prosecutions ending in imprisonment must be seen, while we go into schools, particularly primary schools to educate and support.
We must show zero tolerance to this cruel and evil practice.
Michelle Dibble
i World Health Organisation (WHO), Media Centre, Female genital mutilation factsheet (January 2018) accessed via http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
ii National FGM Centre traditional terms for FGM accessed via http://nationalfgmcentre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FGM-Terminology-for-Website.pdf.
iii World Health Organisation (WHO), Media Centre, Female genital mutilation factsheet (January 2018) accessed via http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
iv https://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/282388/FGM-statistics-final-report-21-07-15-released-text.pdf
