Female Genital Mutilation Most Likely To Happen On School Holidays

For most children summer is a time of fun and relaxation.

But for girls from families where female genital mutilation (FGM) is the norm, school holidays are the time when they are most likely to get cut.

Between 500 and 2,000 girls will undergo FGM this summer in the UK. This happens either by taking the girls out of the country during the summer holidays, or by having “cutting parties” in the UK.

The chances of this being done safely is small, with cutters charging extra money if their clients want clean equipment.

For some women it is the norm and they don’t think anything of it. But for girls raised in the UK it doesn’t fit with their idea of being British. These are the girls who will suffer the most.

It has been illegal since 1985 to perform, aid, abet, or procure this procedure in the UK. And since 2003 it has been illegal to do so on any UK resident anywhere in the world, but so far no prosecutions have ever been made. France is being more proactive, and have put one cutter in prison for eight years.

Some people may say that banning FGM is anti-religious (why this matters when it is such a horrible experience, I’m not sure), but this is not true. It is a cultural practice that has been carried out in parts of Asia and Africa, with records going back as far as 200 years BCE.

“FGM is not confined to African countries. It has no basis in Christianity, it has no basis in Islam; none of Muhammad’s daughters had it done. For some parents it is enough to let them know that and they will drop it completely. Everyone needs to understand that every child, no matter what the background or creed, is protected by this law in this land.”

Some girls born and raised in the UK are speaking out about it. There have been protests and there is a police project working to empower girls.

This has led to some success with interventions.

“Sometimes it might be as simple as delivering the message of what the legal position is; sometimes we even give them an official letter, a document that they can show to the extended family that states quite firmly what will happen if the procedure goes ahead. The focus has to be on prevention.”

It upsets me that this is going on under the noses of the police and hospitals and they are not doing a whole lot about it. With only 25 interventions this year but an expected 2,000 girls being cut, the system is obviously failing.

I don’t know what the solution is, but it needs to be focused on prevention, not just treatment after the fact. Making the public aware of what goes on and having charities and police projects working on prevention is useful, but for some reason the numbers keep growing.

They need to start prosecuting people and putting cutters (or the parents themselves) in jail. This would send a clear message and hopefully would stop other people from doing it.

Laws are useless unless they are enforced. But will enforcing them work, or will it just push this practice further underground and make it more dangerous?

There is a video here of survivors talking about their experiences. Be warned, there are some disturbing scenes.