A raft of new measures to combat the "brutal" crime have been unveiled today and ministers defended the failed prosecution of a doctor accused of carrying out the banned tradition in the UK.
At a meeting outlining the scale of the problem across the UK, Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: “FGM devastates the lives of women and girls and we are committed to ending this brutal practice in one generation.
“I am immensely proud of this government’s legacy and continued work to end FGM.
"The measures announced today will help the NHS fulfil its duty to care for women who have had FGM, protect them and their daughters from further harm and prevent girls from being mutilated.”
FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985 while in 2003 it also became illegal for UK nationals or permanent UK residents to take their child abroad to have female genital mutilation.
Anyone found guilty of the offence faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
The first ever prosecution ended in a not guilty verdict earlier this week and concerns have been raised by medics that health care professionals are now fearful of treating FGM victims in case they are criminalised.
NHS doctor Dhanuson Dharmasena, 32, was acquitted of the act in less than half an hour and the CPS was heavily criticised for bringing the "ludicrous" charge.
Today at the Zero Tolerance to FGM summit in London, Crime Prevention Minister Lynne Featherstone told Express.co.uk that she hoped the case would raise awareness about the issue among the medical profession.
She said: "It's an acquittal but I think the shockwaves that went out through the medical profession when the arrest was announced will have had quite a salutary effect.
"What it says to me is that the royal medical colleges need to look at their training.
"If the rationale around was 'I didn't know' or whatever, then perhaps there's something missing.
"My own view - not on this case because I can't comment - is that a gynaecologist should know what [FGM] looks like."
New guidelines on FGM were issued for nurses and midwives today following the trial while today £3.6million was pledged in funding to a number of initiatives.
The Royal College of Nursing updated its guidance and demanded the Government "ensure healthcare staff have comprehensive training and support to help tackle the abuse".
There has still been no successful prosecution in England or Wales since the practice was outlawed 29 years ago.
Ms Featherstone said: "If it was boys having half their penises cut off that should explain why this is a massive issue, It's the same thing.
"But because it's girls and because it's been practised for 4,000 years somehow that makes it okay. It does not. That's why it's massive.
"It's child abuse, it's against our laws, it has to end."
Ms Featherstone blasted the idea of FGM as a cultural norm.
She said: "That's just the worst excuse.
"It has gone on for 4,000 years but now Africa itself where this is most endemic has outlawed this in 25 countries.
"The African Union, the United Nations have banned it worldwide because as the world has moved on, patriarchal societies that have social norms that keep women at the bottom of the pile are beginning to change.
"There can be nothing more totemic in terms of violence against women than cutting off the clitoris and the labia."
She added: "We're trampling all over cultural eggshells now.
"But nevertheless this is a private and personal area. Anyone talking about those parts of their body is going to be sensitive.
"We have to give our front line workers the confidence, the information, the knowledge, the referral system, to actually address both suspicion and actual FGM."
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