FGM – a cruelty in our midst
Efua Dorkenoo, Advocacy Director of the FGM programme for Equality Now, and Nimco Ali, Director of Daughters of Eve, outside the UK International Development Committee after giving evidence on FGM.
There are some crimes so appalling they force even the most hardened cynic to cry out for action. One of these is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), defined by the World Health Organisation as the partial or total removal of the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
The government announced in March that it will spend £35 million to help eradicate FGM “within a generation” in the UK and abroad. This has been welcomed by charities that work on FGM, but it is unclear how the money will be spent, or whether the government’s policies are likely to succeed.
What do these plans mean for places such as Hackney, where hundreds of girls are at risk every year, and what more could be done to stop these crimes taking place?
FGM is a crime in the UK and can cause long term health problems such as trouble menstruating and complications during sex and childbirth.
Research by the charity Forward UK estimates that around 24,000 girls in the UK are at risk of mutilation, whilst 66,000 women and girls have already had FGM.
Naana Otoo-Oyortey MBE, Executive Director of Forward UK, said: “Inner London seems to have quite a high number of people affected by FGM, especially based on maternity records.”
Ms Otoo-Oyortey said there were around 700 cases in London alone between 2010 and 2011.
In Hackney there were 921 cases of women in maternity units with FGM between 2001 and 2004. This averaged at about 230 a year and makes up 5.32 per cent of all women in maternity care in Hackney.
Experts believe the number of cases is much higher than recorded. There has never been a prosecution for FGM in the UK despite the fact that the practice has been illegal since 1985. A spokesperson for the Home Office said the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 strengthened the legal protection against FGM, especially for young people.
Efua Dorkenoo, Advocacy Director of the FGM programme for Equality Now, said: “Despite sustained efforts to discourage it, FGM continues to be practised on girls in the UK.
“A common expression is that ‘the UK does not have the guts to prosecute anybody in relation to FGM’. This is a major frustration for community outreach education workers from affected communities.”
An action plan by the Director of Public Prosecutions to stop FGM in the UK was welcomed by Hackney MP Diane Abbott in November 2012.
Teach the teachers
But aside from the legal aspect, other parts of the government’s approach seem to be falling short of their rhetoric.
Comfort Momoh MBE set up one of the first clinics for FGM in the country in 1997, and currently works at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in Westminster. She told me she sees hundreds of cases of FGM a year and that the current system is failing to tackle the problem. One reason for this is the lack of training for teachers to spot girls at risk of mutilation and to know how to respond.
“The training that we have now is not enough,” she said. “It’s just ad hoc training. Someone needs to be coordinating. It’s not adequate.”
A YouGov poll in March for the NCPCC found that 83 per cent of teachers said they have not had child protection training about girls at risk of mutilation. One in six teachers polled were unaware that FGM is illegal in the UK.
Nearly the same proportion said they do not see FGM as child abuse, while 68 per cent did not know there is government guidance for how teachers should tackle the risk of mutilation.
Schools currently have the choice of including FGM somewhere in their curriculum, but are not required to do so by the government.
Forward UK published a statement in February criticising the Department of Education for its “reluctance” to include FGM in its safeguarding procedures, training or national curriculum requirements.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “If a school is concerned that a pupil may be about to undergo FGM or may have been subject to it, they should contact their local authority safeguarding team immediately.”
The spokesperson would not say whether the DoE had any plans to provide schools with resources, information or training to help them tackle FGM.
They replied: “Newly qualified teachers must meet Teachers’ Standards that cover their safeguarding duties. In areas where Female Genital Mutilation is likely to be an issue, Local Safeguarding Children Boards may prioritise this for local services, including education, but that is a local matter.”
Some schools have taken it upon themselves to highlight the issue of FGM among staff and pupils, such as Lilian Baylis Technology School in Kennington, which has held assemblies, made a film, and is planning an awareness drive ahead of the summer holidays this year.
Hackney Council were unable to say whether there were any plans to highlight the issue of FGM in schools in Hackney, but said the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Board employ a Community Partnership Officer who works on FGM in the borough.
The money-mouth relationship
A spokesman for the Department for International Development told me that some of the £35 million for eradicating FGM will be spent in the UK, but that the amount was yet to be decided. He said he could not say how it will be spent or when the decision will be made.
Naana Otoo-Oyortey said: “In reality, most of that money will be spent in countries where FGM is prevalent, very little will be spent in the UK as far as I know.”
The government is currently spending £50,000 on FGM in the UK, which campaigners have said is too little.
“Clearly that’s not enough,” said Ms Otoo-Oyortey. “If you want to deal with something you need to invest in it in an adequate manner. I think that is important to allocate more money to charities in the UK.”
She added: “The Department of Education has a strategic role to play to make sure schools have the resources they need.”
Comfort Momoh agreed that the government needs to do more to help charities in the UK. She said: “All the people working here are competing with very little funds and support. Obviously they [the government] need to give money to support the work here.
“They should allocate money to raising awareness, to NGOs working on the practice with the community. There should be money for all the work if we’re genuinely looking to eradicate FGM in the UK and internationally as well.”
If the government is sincere about wanting to eradicate FGM in the UK it will take the action called for by these women and provide the funds and training this practice requires.