Home Office Press ReleaseSourced from Wired-GOV Date: March 03, 2004Time: 09:15 Blunkett Welcomes Law to End Female Genital MutilationMoves to end the practice of female genital mutilation will be strengthened from today as new legislation comes into force. The Female Genital Mutilation Act reinforces existing legislation criminalising the offence and closes a loophole by making it unlawful to take girls abroad for genital mutilation whether or not it is lawful elsewhere. It will also increase the maximum penalty for both performing and procuring female genital mutilation from 5 to 14 years imprisonment. Visiting the support group Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development (FORWARD), Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "Female genital mutilation is a very harmful practice that is already rightly illegal in this country. No cultural, medical or other reason can ever justify a practice that causes so much pain and suffering. Regardless of cultural background, it is completely unacceptable and should be illegal wherever it takes place. "The legislation which comes into force today will close a loophole in the previous law by preventing people taking young girls abroad to carry out female genital mutilation and bring us closer to eradicating this practice entirely." The Government is also providing funding of 30,000 to support services to help finance an information campaign amongst the practising communities, which will include the use of seminars, workshops and leaflets. Additionally revised guidance was issued today to asylum caseworkers to ensure gender related issues, including female genital mutilation, are taken into account when assessing a claim for asylum. Ann Clywd MP responsible for introducing the new legislation said: "Many victims of female genital mutilation are often young and vulnerable. They suffer enormous physical and psychological harm throughout their lives, yet too often they suffer in silence. We cannot condone this. Female genital mutilation is harmful and it violates the most basic human rights, which the UK has undertaken to protect in a number of international instruments. I hope that this legislation will send that message very powerfully indeed." Welcoming the legislation, Adwoa Kwateng-kluvitse, Director of FORWARD, said: "This new law indicates the Government's and activists' commitment to protect girls at risk of female genital mutilation. It is our fervent hope that this Bill will not be a symbolic gesture, but will serve as a tool for child protection, community education and empowerment." Sarah McCulloch, National Director for Agency for Culture & Change Management said: "The new Act will close loopholes in the Female Circumcision Prohibition Act 1985 that has allowed families to continue practicing female genital mutilation on their daughters in the UK and overseas. As campaigners the Act will bring all Agencies working with children and women together to work in partnership to highlight children at risk and provide necessary support and help." Notes to Editors: 1. David Blunkett and Baroness Scotland will be visiting FORWARD on the morning of 3 March. 2. The Female Genital Mutilation Bill was introduced by Ann Clywd MP on 11 December 2002. It received Government backing and was granted Royal Assent on 30 October 2003. 3. The Act can be found at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030031.htm 4. Female genital mutilation involves procedures which include the partial or total removal of the external female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons. The practice is medically unnecessary, extremely painful and has serious health consequences, both at the time when the mutilation is carried out, and in later life. 5. Female genital mutilation is a criminal offence in the UK under the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. 6. The Female Genital Mutilation Act repeals and re-enacts the provisions of the 1985 Act and gives them extra-territorial effect as was recommended by an All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health reporting in 2000. It also increases the maximum penalty, on conviction on indictment, for female genital mutilation from 5 to 14 years imprisonment. 7. Accurate information about the extent to which female genital mutilation is practised in this country is difficult to come by because it is rarely reported to the authorities. The most accurate view is probably that of FORWARD, which estimates that there are 74,000 first generation African immigrant women in the UK who have undergone female genital mutilation and as many as 7,000 girls (under 16) within the practising communities who are at risk of female genital mutilation. 8. The procedure is usually performed on girls between the ages of 4-13, but in some cases female genital mutilation is performed on new born infants or on young women prior to marriage or pregnancy. 9. There are numerous reasons given for the practice, including custom and tradition, religious demand, family honour, hygiene and prevention of promiscuity. It has not been possible to determine when or where it originated. 10. The Government does not regard female genital mutilation as being associated with any particular religion or ethnic group. Female genital mutilation has been a traditional practice in certain communities - primarily, though not exclusively, parts of Africa - for centuries. 11. Female genital mutilation has no possible physical advantages, is not called for in any religious scripture, and is not limited to any religious group. 12. FORWARD is dedicated to improving the health and well being of African women and girls wherever they reside. It promotes action to stop harmful traditional and gender based discriminatory practices such as FGM. 13. The Agency for Culture and Change Management are a campaigning and support organisation committed to raising awareness of health issues affecting African women. 14. The revised Asylum Policy Instruction issued to caseworkers gives guidance on the additional considerations caseworkers should have in mind when assessing claims for asylum that could include gender related issues such as among others marriage related harm, violence within the family or community, domestic slavery and female genital mutilation. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION- THE FACTS * It is estimated that there are around 74,000 women in the UK who have undergone the procedure, and about 7,000 girls under 16 who are at risk.1 * An estimated 135 million of the world's girls and women have undergone genital mutilation and two million girls a year are at risk - approx 6,000 per day.2 * The procedure is typically performed on girls aged between 4 and 13. * Women who have undergone some forms of FGM are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those who have not, and four times more likely to give birth to a still born child. * The origins of FGM are not known. It is an age-old practice that is deeply steeped in the culture of the practising communities. Reasons for maintaining it include purification, family honour, hygiene, aesthetic reasons, protection of virginity and prevention of promiscuity, enhancing fertility, decreasing the sexual desire of women, acceptance by the community, and increasing matrimonial opportunities. * Although FGM is performed by many different religious groups, including Muslims, Christians and Jews-and by non-believers-it is not a religious practice, as some claim. * It is reportedly practised in 28 African countries, as well as by some ethnic groups in the Arabian peninsula, the Persian gulf and south-west Asia. It has also been reported in immigrant populations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and north America. 1 Source: FORWARD 2 Source: Amnesty |
