Family Solicitors

A leading human rights barrister is calling on men to help prevent the practise of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Dexter Dias QC said that FGM was not simply a “women’s problem” – but that men from communities which carry out FGM should not pretend they do not know what is happening.

Mr Dias said that the practise of FGM – in which young girls are “cut” by elder women in the community once they reach puberty – is carried out to please men.

Mr Dias was speaking at the Cruel Cut conference on FGM, held in Tower Hamlets in east London. He told delegates that FGM “is fundamentally about patriarchy”.

“What this means is controlling the sexuality of women by mutilating their genitals,” said Mr Dias.

“It is done by older women on younger women for men.

“If we want to fight a social practice that is so harmful and grounded in patriarchy, there is little better you can do than enlist some of the patriarchs.”

It is estimated that as many as 103,000 women and girls living in Britain have undergone FGM.

Mr Dias said that FGM was a human rights issue.

“It doesn’t matter that I am not a woman, that I am not from a practising community – and that I am not from a particular religious group,” he said.

“We share a common humanity.”

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