Female genital mutilation to hit record levels, fear police

The warning comes as police in Bedfordshire obtained the UK’s first female genital mutilation protection order.

The practice, also known as cutting or purification, occurs in four different forms in almost 30 countries according to data from Unicef.

No data on the scale of the problem in Scotland exists due to secrecy and a lack of knowledge surrounding the issue.

However, evidence suggests there are thousands of survivors here and that thousands of girls born to families from FGM-practicing countries remain at risk.

Launching a major push to raise public awareness yesterday, Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal told The National that the force is braced for a record level of FGM referrals this year.

She said: “There are no clear or robust figures on FGM prevalence in Scotland because of its hidden nature, but because it is such a sensitive and complex issue, that doesn’t mean nobody should speak about it.

“FGM is one of the most severe forms of child abuse.”

Scottish Refugee Council figures suggest there are almost 24,000 people living in Scotland who were born in one of the 29 countries identified by UNICEF as an FGM-practising nation, including Nigeria, Somalia, Egypt, Kenya, Sudan and Eritrea.

According to the 2011 census, around 2,400 girls were born in Scotland to parents from FGM-practicing nations between 2007-10.

The number of FGM referrals has been on the rise since the formation of the single force, with a total of 16 cases reported to Police Scotland between April 2013 and March 2014.

This rose to 19 the following year and the force is now prepared for its biggest FGM caseload to date after nine cases emerged between April and June alone.

It is illegal to carry out the practice here or to take a child out of Scotland for the purpose of undergoing FGM, and officers yesterday handed out leaflets at airports across the country urging people from affected communities to seek help.

Boal says the increase means efforts to end stigma and encourage affected families to come forwards are working.

During an earlier phase of the campaign, Police Scotland’s social media message was seen on around 25,000 occasions, with 10,000 interactions.

Boal said: “FGM is child abuse. As we increase awareness we would anticipate that we have more information coming forward. We will robustly investigate where there is information but we want to catch it before it happens.

“We want to make the whole of Scotland aware of the girls who may be at risk of FGM in every community in Scotland. We would also encourage parents who may be under pressure from family members to come to us for support. The legislation is there to protect them.”

Despite the country-wide approach, the force is honing in on the areas with the highest black and minority ethnic populations, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

The awareness push took place on Safer Travel Day, when many families were due to fly abroad to coincide with local holidays.

Boal said: “School holidays are an opportune time to remind people flying to countries where this practice takes place. Girls and young women can be taken abroad and return with no one the wiser about what they may have suffered.

“We would remind people that FGM is a very serious crime. It is also a crime to take a girl out of the country to undergo FGM. We will take action against anyone who facilitates FGM. We will continue to work with partners in non-governmental organisations and in local communities to prevent this abuse.

“If anyone is worried that this might be why they are travelling abroad or someone they know is being taken abroad, then please contact Police Scotland. We can help and we will do everything we can to put a stop to this abhorrent practice.”

However, the lead organisation in Scotland on this issue says the notion of “immediate risk” is one among many obstacles to tackling FGM.

The organisation, which has asked not to be named for fear or harming its work with affected communities, is calling for a greater understanding of the complexities of FGM across cultures by Scottish agencies and wants a new system to be created for reporting non-imminent threats.

A spokesperson said: “Systems for child protection deal with imminent risk. With FGM there isn’t an imminent risk, there is a suspicion that a child will be mutilated at some time in the future, in ten years or just before her wedding. There isn’t a system for that. We need a system for non-imminent risk.”

The organisation works with hundreds of FGM survivors, with most in Glasgow, and says the referrals to Police Scotland do not even represent the tip of the iceberg. A spokesperson said: “There are a million issues. We are making progress but it’s very, very slow.

“On many occasions, people don’t regard the person in front of them as being a possible FGM survivor. They could be looking for someone in a hijab, but it’s not an Islamic problem, it’s a geographical problem. There are a lot of people from West Africa who wear Westernised clothes and look quite funky, but they are still survivors.

“If women are giving birth, you would imagine that it was identified. Sometimes it is quite clear, but in those cases it isn’t being logged or it isn’t being handed to an obstetrician or a GP or a health visitor. Some women are going abroad to give birth. Frontline health workers who see evidence of it could be asking them ‘have you had FGM?’ which is the wrong thing to ask. You could say cutting, you could say purification, but some women won’t know what FGM is.

“There is such a huge stigma in talking about it. For our workers, it takes 10-12 weeks before most women even raise it even though they are talking about health problems.

“In rural Sierra Leone, they tell the women ‘if you tell anyone you have been cut, you will die of cancer’, then they are complicit in their own abuse.

“We need resources to work with women on a one-to-one basis and on a family-by-family basis with tailored approaches for the different communities.”

Dr Gillian Smith, director for Scotland at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “FGM is an abhorrent act of violence against women and girls and falls very clearly in to the category of child abuse. It must be stopped both here in the UK and globally.

“Although considerable progress has been made over the last few years, raising awareness and introducing measures to stop this practice continuing, it is still happening and all possible efforts must be used to eradicate this abuse.

“It is only through all the relevant agencies such as health services, education and the police working together with communities and survivors that this can be stopped.”

Bedfordshire Police obtained the protection order under a law which came into force yesterday to prevent travel by two young girls who are thought to be at risk of being taken to Africa to undergo FGM.

The measure allows authorities to seize the passports of people who they suspect are planning on taking girls abroad for mutilation.