Zero tolerance of female genital mutilation – but is the government doing enough?

Yesterday was the International Day of Zero Tolerance to female genital mutilation.

For those who don’t know already, female genital mutilation or FGM involves removing or otherwise cutting the external female genitalia.  As the aim of FGM is to restrict women’s sexuality, normally all or part of the clitoris is removed.  In some cases the whole vulva is stitched up, leaving just a small hole for urine and menstrual blood to pass through.

FGM is usually performed on children, and is generally carried out by unskilled practitioners who use unsterilized instruments and no anaesthetic.  Girls are often held down by their female relatives while the cutter gets to work.  Around the world 8000 girls undergo this horrendous procedure every day, hence the need for a day of zero tolerance.

While FGM is largely perceived as an African problem (it is practiced in 42 African countries) it is also widespread in some Asian countries and in the Middle East.  In January the first conference on FGM in the Middle East revealed that it is inflicted on girls and women in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  In Iraqi Kurdistan more than 70 per cent of women have undergone it.

I work for the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), a charity which provides support and protection to Kurdish women and girls who are affected by FGM in the UK.  FGM is illegal here and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, yet it is still practiced.  A study by the Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development (FORWARD) estimated that more than 32,000 girls living in the UK were at high risk of being subjected to FGM and over 66,000 had already undergone FGM.  Charities like IKWRO and FORWARD are working with communities to prevent the practice, but we believe the government needs to do more too.

“Until now, action on FGM in the UK has been piecemeal,” says Naana Otoo-Oyortey, Executive Director of FORWARD. “The UK needs a more holistic approach, with demonstrable commitment on educating social workers, doctors and other professionals and engaging affected communities so that we can work together to end FGM.”

Yesterday I attended a reception with the Orchid Project and Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone.  “We have to protect all girls from this abuse and to ensure that women and girls who have undergone FGM have access to the care they need,” the Minister said.  She added that the government would continue to work alongside and support communities and partners.

Yet community organisations like IKWRO and FORWARD are calling for more than partnership and support.  A year ago the government released guidelines on FGM, targeted at professionals who come into contact with children at risk.  But these guidelines have not reached the professionals who need them, nor is there a plan to overcome the other barriers to tackling FGM.  Jane Ellison MP, founder of the newly established All Party Parliamentary Group on FGM, recognised this issue at yesterday’s reception, saying that “although there are guidelines, a lot of these guidelines are not being fully implemented”.

We want the government to develop a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle FGM in this country, and we hope that the All Party Group will push them to do this.  If the coalition truly has zero tolerance for FGM, then it must prove this by taking a more proactive approach to eliminating the practice, in this country and around the world.

A film was released yesterday by the End FGM European Campaign, calling on European leaders to take action. Watch it here.

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• Coucom21

  Keep a civil tongue in your head.  Your foul mouthed abuse gives you away

  “Half of all American men are circumsised”  Wacky do, so what?  What is the relevance?  Nearly 90% of Australian men were  -Drs did it to male babies automatically without asking the parents.

  Have yoiu just discovered that abuse of male babies is enormous – welcome to the planet.

  My pint and it is a simple one is that there should be no distinctions

• Guest

  Bite me you inane little sh1t. I don’t take crap from ANYONE – certainly not from a worthless child.

  Removing part or all of the penis should clearly be different things even to a simpleton like you.

  Personally I think your little head should be shorn to match your other head – in order words, you won’t have much to use.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=666270816 Benedict Edwards

  “the use of the term ‘circumcision’ is totally inaccurate”

  *sarcastic applause*

  Didn’t take long, did it?

• Katie Shapland

  It’s clitorectomy and often more. The use of the term ‘circumcision’ is totally inaccurate and is used to hide what is actually being done. I know many highly intelligent, well educated (in most matters), people in the west who have assumed that the procedure is no different to male circumcision because of the terminology. Unlike Coucom21, who sees it as splitting hairs, they are shocked and outraged when they learn the truth.

• Katie Shapland

  I’m sure there’s biting wit somewhere in this post of yours Benedict. Perhaps you can explain it to us mere dullards.

  Btw – the sign in the photo attached to this article says No to ‘circumcision’ if your clever point is that I’ve been using an inaccurate term.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=666270816 Benedict Edwards

  That idiot in the sign is wrong too, then.

• IKWRO

  Thanks for all the comments folks.
  Some people have asked what we think the government needs to do.  That’s an important question, and one on which we would’ve said more in the original blog, but for the word limit.
  FGM needs to be a child protection issue.  Teachers, social workers, health workers and police officers must be able to spot children who are at risk.  These children might tell a teacher that they’re going overseas or are having a special procedure, or their mother or sister may already have undergone FGM. 
  Once these children are identified, professionals need to know how to protect them.  As we said in our blog, the government already has guidelines on this, but most professionals have never heard of them.  The government needs to get these guidelines out.  As well as ensuring better protection, more informed professionals – especially police – would increase the likelihood of getting a prosecution for FGM. 
  As we also said in our blog, more work needs to be done to persuade families to abandon the practice, to support parents who are already resisting it and to let young people know their rights.  These changes won’t happen overnight – they take years – and organisations working with communities need long term, sustainable funding from the government.
  The government also needs to invest more in specialist services for survivors of FGM all over the country.  FGM causes longterm health complications ranging from persistent urinary and reproductive tract infections and painful vaginal cysts to pain during sex, obstructed labour and increased risk of tears and fistula while giving birth.  Survivors are also prone to post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and flashbacks.  Ensuring women and girls get appropriate care early could help to prevent future health complications, and could also give survivors the support they need to go through with a prosecution.
  Another area for action is the lack of up to date information on how many children are at risk of FGM or what parts of the UK they live in.  With this information, the government could target funding and training for professionals at the areas that need it most.  It’s vital to get this data in order to guide future government strategy.
  As for the many comments about male circumcision; organisations like IKWRO and FORWARD are campaigning on FGM because they have seen first hand the acute pain, severe ill health and intense psychological trauma it causes, not only when a girl undergoes it, but for the rest of her life.  It also robs women of sexual pleasure and in doing this, it reinforces a patriarchal view of sex and relationships to which we are fundamentally opposed.
  If the men who’ve written comments here believe that male children suffer just as badly, then they should set up organisations to campaign against it.  FGM is banned here because women got together and demanded a ban.  They did research to show the awful impact FGM has on women, and they used this to shift public opinion.  Women work in communities to persuade parents not to do it, they offer protection to girls who are at risk and they support and train the professionals who work with them.  Many of them do this work on piecemeal salaries or for free.  If men feel just as strongly about male circumcision as women do about FGM, then there’s nothing to stop them from getting out there and doing the same.  In fact, we wish them good luck.