Government FGM consultation
A step towards change
By Ali Hussain, criminal defence lawyer, Stokoe Partnership
services, only for any suspicions to prove
unfounded. Action of this kind will have
a stigmatising effect and will, in the long
run, do little to advance the cause of
stamping out FGM.
T
he topic of Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM), which has
been in the public eye quite
significantly for the past
couple of years, is one which
is simultaneously simple and deeply
complex.
The simple part of the equation
encompasses the seriousness of the
crime and the desirability of protecting
young girls and women from what is
undoubtedly a distressing and lifelimiting form of physical abuse. The
complexity arises, however, from the
secrecy within which the practice is
shrouded, particularly within the UK,
and the fact that some members of the
communities within which it takes place,
both male and female, regard it as a part
of their cultural identity.
It is tempting and indeed fairly natural,
in view of the horrific consequences of
FGM, to regard such cultural concerns
as having no legitimate place in the
discussion; the government, in its
latest consultation paper, for example,
(published in July of this year) states
that it is ‘clear that we will not allow
political or cultural sensitivities to
get in the way of tackling abuse in
whatever form it takes’. Not allowing
such sensitivities to ‘get in the way’ of
tackling FGM is, indeed, a laudable aim,
but the Government has to be extremely
careful to ensure that not allowing
cultural concerns to be used as a cover
under which crimes such as FGM can be
committed does not equate to pretending
The campaigners who have done much
to push the issue of FGM to the forefront
of the Governments thinking will
doubtless be delighted to see that the
momentum appears to be moving in the
right direction. The latest consultation,
on a new statutory multi-agency
guidance, indicates that the government
is committed to taking on board the
widest possible range of views from both
the professionals tasked with dealing
with the issue and the people coping
with its ramifications on a personal
level.
that such cultural concerns do not exist.
It is possible to condemn the practice
of FGM unequivocally and set out to
frame laws which will ultimately lead
to its cessation, whilst at the same time
making some attempt to reach out to
the communities within which it is
most firmly entrenched. Indeed, such
a process of communication and, with
it, education, will need to take its place
alongside the much-welcomed tightening
and fine tuning of the law if the crime of
FGM is not, in many cases, to be driven
further underground.
The reality is that there has still to
be a successful prosecution for FGM,
some 30 years after the Prohibition of
Female Circumcision Act came into
force. Ally this to the fact that the only
trial dealing with FGM to date, which
was held earlier this year, resulted in a
jury exonerating the defendants after
just 30 minutes spent deliberating,
amidst a widespread perception that
the prosecution itself had been an illconsidered response to the need to be
seen to be acting, and you have a sense
that the Government still has some way
to go before formulating a genuinely
successful approach to detecting and
prosecuting cases of FGM. Anecdotal
evidence