Genital mutilation of young girls should be treated as child abuse when it is found to be happening in the UK, a major report says today.
Several royal colleges, including those representing midwives and gynaecologists, have worked together to produce the report.
Campaigners say 15,000 girls in Britain may be at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation – known as FGM. As many as 66,000 women in the country are victims of it, even though the practice is banned in the UK and could incur penalties of up to 14 years.
The report calls for an awareness campaign to help step up prevention.
And it says health professionals should be held accountable for dealing with the problem.
The report says girls at risk should be identified and included in child safeguarding work.
Director of public prosecutions Keir Stammer said it was "only a matter of time" before a successful prosecution was brought for conducting FGM.
Writing a foreword for the report, he said: "Through working together closely with the police, health and social care professionals and the third sector, we are now in a much better place to have a successful prosecution against those who perpetrate this practice."
Royal College of Midwives chief executive Cathy Warwick said: “FGM is a violation of children and women’s human rights, and there is a real need to raise awareness about the damage that FGM can do to young girls and women within the communities that practise it."
Dr David Richman, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, added: “It is the duty of all healthcare professionals to identify the girls whom they believe are at-risk and to share such information in good faith with the local safeguarding networks so these girls can be monitored and protected by social services."
And Dr Deborah Hodes, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "It is, therefore, crucial that all paediatricians have the confidence to talk to parents about the issue and the ability to recognise the signs and respond appropriately when the child is at risk. They must also understand which children are most vulnerable."
Leave a Reply