Nearly 500 girls undergoing FGM every month in the UK
by Steve Doughty, Mailonline:
The failure of police and prosecutors to secure a single conviction of any individual for female genital mutilation in more than 30 years is a national scandal, MPs said on Wednesday.
They said there is evidence that young girls are being mutilated at a rate of nearly 500 a month, but doctors, nurses and teachers may be ignoring their legal duty to report cases.
Ministers should consider copying the French system which requires that girls under six must have routine medical examinations, and which has led a a large number of successful FGM prosecutions, MPs of the Home Affairs committee said.
Genital mutilation of girls, widely practised in Islamic countries in East and West Africa, and in parts of the Middle East, is thought to be followed by some groups in Britain. It has been illegal since 1985 but only two people have ever been brought to court, and both were acquitted last year.
The MPs’ report said the lack of success was ‘beyond belief’. They added: ‘That is a lamentable record and the failure to identify cases, to prosecute and to achieve convictions can only have negative consequences for those who are brave enough to come forward to highlight this crime.
‘In the absence of successful prosecutions, FGM remains a national scandal that is continuing to result in the preventable mutilation of thousands of girls.’
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