UK : Met police will prosecute parents who send their girls abroad for FGM

People who book flights to send girls abroad for genital mutilation operations will face prosecution in a new Met attempt to bring offenders to justice. Scotland Yard chiefs say that parents, relatives and others who arrange transport and surgery will be targeted for criminal action as child abusers as detectives step up their efforts to combat the illegal practice.

Nimci Ali

The police move was revealed as a parliamentary hearing was warned that large numbers of girls aged as young as six are being sent from London to Africa  for genital surgery which leaves them with painful and life-changing injuries.

It came as the Met disclosed that it is close to bringing the first British prosecution for female genital mutilation after receiving nearly 150 reports of cases involving girls in the capital already “cut” or at risk of surgery.

Giving evidence to MPs, Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Niven, the head of Scotland Yard’s child abuse command, said “a number of difficulties” had prevented prosecutions so far, but warned that parents and others who organised mutilation would face criminal charges as the Met improved its evidence-gathering methods.

“The people that commit the crimes are people that perform the act and the people that arrange for that to take place,” he said.

“So the parents would be liable to criminal prosecution, as would the people who book the flights, as would the people that ensure the transition of that process.”

Mr Niven, who was appearing before the Commons international development select committee, said one person suspected of preparing to send a child abroad for a genital operation was arrested days ago, and “clear” evidence of a crime was found in another case over which his officers are now seeking to bring charges.

He added: “The child was in care and came forward and disclosed that the crime had taken place. We were able to go ahead, gain the evidence and the evidence has been very clear. The individual has now got concerns about taking that to the next stage and that’s about reassurance and about engagement with the Crown Prosecution Service which we are about to do. Prosecution will send a very clear message. It is child abuse.”

Female genital mutilation, or FGM, which is  practised in Africa and other parts of the world, involves the removal of parts or all of a girl’s clitoris and labia. It is illegal in Britain because of the lasting damage that it causes.

Efua Dorkenoo, a London director of the charity Equality Now, said some older girls were being “cut” to stop them becoming “too Westernised”.

But she warned that most victims  were of primary school age. “Most FGM is done to kids under the age of 10,” she told the MPs.

Mr Niven said the Met was now trying to win support from faith leaders and others within affected communities to stop the abuse. He said work was also being carried out with schools and health staff to identify those at risk and that further efforts were being made to give victims the confidence to alert police to their plight.

Flashbacks from smell of Dettol
Nimco Ali was taken to Somalia for female genital mutilation by her mother when she was seven. The procedure was performed in a hospital and to this day the smell of Dettol still gives Ms Ali flashbacks.

The civil servant, 29, from west London, said: “It’s bizarre because my mother is a feminist, believes women should be educated and independent.

“But she still thinks that female genital mutiliation (FGM) is part of what it is to be a woman, she did her best to legitimise the pain. I was told it was a normal thing that would help me to grow up.”

Ms Ali, a founder of the Daughters of Eve FGM campaign group, added: “London is now the capital of Europe where FGM is happening. It’s happening in people’s houses, clinics, with struck-off doctors.”

Mark Blunden

Evening Standard