“Failure to stop FGM is a ‘national scandal’, say MPs,” 170,000 victims, no prosecutions until this year -

Female genital mutilation (FGM) or clitoridectomy is an Islamic tradition, rampant in the Muslim world. Over 96% of the women in Egypt have been clitoridectomized. Back in 2008, devout members of the Egyptian parliament have made female genital mutilation (circumcision) legal again in Egypt.

This has become a pressing issue here in America. The American Academy of Pediatrics proposed a resolution to begin to practice this barbaric mutilation in a multicultural, dhimmi effort — a “nick,” as it were. Whatever their twisted multi-culti, dhimmi intention, this would have given clitoridectomy the seal of approval by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

There was uniform protest by counter-jihadists and other human rights groups to withdraw the American Pediatric Academy’s FGM resolution. And it withdrew the resolution. Some Muslim girls across America were saved in the nick of time ….

Whatever their twisted intention, such consideration was unfathomable to decent, reasoned human beings.

The British authorities, in the case of these FGM parties, say “by the time the girls are cut, the woman ‘cutter’ is on her flight back to the country she came from. We can’t go after the cutter.”  I don’t see why not. Stop banning the truth tellers and start fighting the fight.

“Failure to stop FGM is a ‘national scandal’, say MPs,” BBC, July 3, 2014 (thanks to Hiro):

The failure to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) is a “national scandal” with as many as 170,000 victims in the UK, MPs have said.

Failures by ministers, police and other agencies have led to the “preventable mutilation of thousands of girls”, the Home Affairs Committee said.

It blamed a “misplaced concern for cultural sensitivities” for inaction, and called for a national action plan.

The government said it was working to end “this terrible form of abuse”.

The report called for greater anonymity for victims and protection orders to prevent girls from being taken abroad.
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An estimated 65,000 girls under the age of 13 in the UK are at risk from FGM, the report said.

The practice has been illegal in Britain since 1985, but the first prosecutions – which are currently ongoing – were not until this year.

In France, however, “a large number of successful prosecutions has played a key role in discouraging the practice”, the committee said.

The report said the police and Crown Prosecution Service had “historically been far too passive in their approach by waiting for survivors to come forward and report”.

The MPs called for prosecutions to show the issue was being taken seriously in the UK and the implementation of a “comprehensive and fully-resourced” national action plan for dealing with it.

The record of healthcare professionals in referring cases to the authorities was described as “extremely poor”. The committee said many in the education sector still needed to “overcome awkwardness” if they feared schoolgirls may be at risk, while the Association of Chief Police Officers had shown “a distinct lack of leadership”, it said.
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MPs are the first to admit that FGM is an issue “surrounded in silence”. Victims don’t necessarily want to talk about what has happened to them and they might be even more reluctant to inform on parents.

One answer MPs have come up with is giving women the right to anonymity in court. This already exists for rape victims under the Sexual Offences Act 1992. The Home Affairs Committee says that law should be amended to cover women with FGM too.

Another suggestion from MPs is to make more use of protection orders whereby vulnerable girls are placed under the wing of the courts.

These are already in use for suspected cases of forced marriage – indeed 600 have been activated in that capacity. These might stop families taking girls overseas for illegal procedures as well as ensuring regular medical checks for the most “at risk” cases.
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While anecdotal evidence suggested it was common for girls to be taken back to their country of origin during the school holidays to undergo the procedure, there was also evidence of FGM taking place in the UK, the report said.

Court protection orders – similar to the system used for suspected victims of forced marriage – were one of the committee’s recommendations.

In line with practice in France, medical professionals should be able to make FGM assessments on girls thought to be at risk, the committee said.
‘Act now’

If all else fails, the MPs called for it to be made an offence not to report child abuse.

Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: “FGM is an ongoing national scandal which is likely to have resulted in the preventable mutilation of thousands of girls to whom the state owed a duty of care.

“Successive governments, politicians, the police, health, education and social care sectors should all share responsibility for the failure in recent years to respond adequately to the growing prevalence of FGM in the UK. We need to act immediately.

“It is unacceptable that those with clear access to evidence of these crimes do nothing to help those at risk.”

Masai proponents of FGM insist girls who are not cut are “dirty”

Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said the government was “already driving a step-change to end this extremely harmful and misguided practice”.

“Earlier this year, ministers from across government signed a declaration to demonstrate their commitment to end this terrible form of abuse. We are working with religious and community leaders to forge a commitment to condemn FGM, and reaching out to communities to encourage them to seek help and advice and ultimately abandon the practice,” he said.

He said the government was also working to protect foreign nationals in the UK who are taken overseas for FGM to be carried out.

Dr Comfort Momoh, a public health specialist at St Thomas’s Hospital, in London, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme there was a “lack of training” and a “lack of awareness” around the issue among health professionals.

She said: “If our so-called professionals don’t have the knowledge, if our so-called professionals don’t know how to identify groups who might be at risk, how do we expect the community to report cases to us?”

Prime Minister David Cameron is to host the UK’s first Girl Summit, aimed at ending FGM within a generation, this summer, he said.