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UK government pledge to end FGM and forced marriage “within a generation” (23 July 2014)

Date: 23/07/2014
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, UK government pledge to end FGM and forced marriage “within a generation”

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to bring an end to female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and child marriage within a generation.

Mr Cameron was speaking at the Girl Summit in London and said that FGM should become a criminal offence to be reported by professionals such as doctors and teachers, if they suspect the practice is taking place or a girl may be at risk of FGM.

FGM is practised in African, Asian and some Middle Eastern countries, where families believe female genital mutilation will make their daughter “more marriageable”.

Many generations of women have spoken of the pain and psychological as well as physical damage FGM causes.

The UK government is co-hosting the Girl Summit with Unicef – and Mr Cameron revealed that in Britain, FGM will become a criminal offence under new legislation.

Thousands of girls in the UK who are British citizens may be at risk of FGM and forced marriage – and some may be sent abroad for the purpose of FGM or to marry against their will.

The government is to introduce a £1.4 million FGM Prevention Programme to support survivors of FGM and girls at risk of the procedure.

Unicef has warned that, although incidences of FGM and child marriage have dropped, increases in populations could reverse this trend.

There have also been reports of refugees in war zones such as Syria giving up their daughters to forced marriages in the hope they will be protected from the atrocities of war – including rape – by their new husbands.

Unicef research across 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East has shown that as many as 700 million women may have entered into forced marriage when they were still children.

Comparable figures on FGM suggest that 130 million women and young girls may have undergone the procedure in the 29 countries surveyed by Unicef.

Mr Cameron said at the Girl Summit:

“It’s such a simple but such a noble and good ambition – and that is to outlaw the practices of female genital mutilation in childhood and early forced marriage.

“To outlaw them everywhere, for everyone, within this generation. That is the aim.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the government will announce proposals under which teachers, doctors, social workers and others working with children and girls at risk of FGM would receive training to identify and help those who may be at risk.

Police forces will also be given guidance on FGM cases.

The government also plans to set up services which would monitor and help prevent FGM and forced marriage in 12 developing countries.

The Commons Home Affairs Select Committee has in a report referred to the practice of FGM as one of “the severest physical forms of child abuse”.

In the UK, it is estimated that 170,000 girls may have undergone FGM, with a further 65, 000 at risk.

Many families feel that they are doing the right thing in allowing their daughters to undergo FGM, in line with cultural traditions – rather than feeling that the procedure is “abuse”.

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