Legal News

London Mayor Boris Johnson has said that reporting victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) to the police must become law.

The Mayor said that professionals such as social workers, doctors and teachers who come into contact with FGM should have a legal duty to make a police report to protect future victims from undergoing the procedure.

Mr Johnson was addressing a conference on FGM at City Hall when he made his comments. The Mayor added that it was “shameful” that no one in Britain had yet been prosecuted for carrying out FGM.

“FGM is an appalling practice,” said Mr Johnson. “And it is time that all professionals and agencies understand and fulfil their duty in protecting young women and girls, in the same way they protect other forms of child abuse.”

Tuesday’s conference at City Hall was organised by London MEP Marina Yannakoudakis and hosted by the editor of the Evening Standard newspaper Sarah Sands. The Evening Standard is currently campaigning against FGM.

The London Mayor called for children in schools to be taught about the “barbarity” of FGM – and added that the biggest obstacle to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) bringing a successful prosecution for the practice was the fact that few people come forward to report FGM as a crime to the police, or to other agencies as a matter of concern.

The girls and young women who undergo FGM are often unaware of what is going to happen to them until a few minutes before the procedure is carried out – and it is frequently carried out using force to subdue the victim.

The fact that FGM is usually arranged by the close female relatives of a victim makes reporting the practice as a crime potentially even more emotionally traumatic for victims of FGM.

The Mayor told the FGM conference:

“For it to be a statutory duty would mean there could be no ambiguity about what is expected of the professionals who identify women and girls that have experienced FGM or are at risk of it.

“The same argument was had about gun and knife crime victims and the information that NHS hospitals held.

“We need to make that same argument to ensure hospitals notify the police when there is evidence of FGM.”

FGM victims are often only identified at the time they are admitted to a maternity unit to give birth – and some campaigners have expressed concern that making reporting FGM victims a statutory duty might discourage women from seeking maternity services or NHS healthcare.

Mr Johnson is also calling on private clinics and hospitals to report FGM victims, however, meaning seeking healthcare for FGM victims may become a last resort – or women who have undergone FGM may be at risk of seeking healthcare from unregulated or even bogus doctors who would not report FGM to the police.

The Mayor said:

“I am calling for mandatory referrals and sharing of information to occur between all statutory agencies – not just between health professionals, but between public and private hospitals and clinics with the police, and the CPS, as well as with social services.”

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Duncan Lewis family solicitors can advise on a range of family and childcare matters, including domestic violence and child abuse.

Duncan Lewis family solicitors offer an effective, confidential and sympathetic service to victims of domestic violence and child abuse – and Duncan Lewis is also one of the leading Legal Aid law firms in the UK.

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