Female Genital Mutilation

The facts:

• Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
• FGM is internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.
• It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years.
• In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
• Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
• It is illegal to practice FGM in the UK.
• Every year in the UK, an average 20,000-24,000 girls are at risk. The average age for FGM is between 4-14 years of age, but can happen prior or after that (FGM Annual Report 2017, NHS Digital)
• Figures from 2016-17 show there were 9,179 attendances to NHS services in which FGM was identified, treatment was given, or a woman with FGM had given birth to a baby girl (FGM Annual Report 2017, NHS Digital)

The law:

The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 makes it illegal to

• practice FGM in the UK
• take girls who are British nationals or permanent residents of the UK abroad for FGM
• aid, abet, counsel or procure the carrying out of FGM abroad
• help a girl perform FGM on themselves in or outside the UK

Any person found guilty of an offence under the Act will be liable to a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment or/and a fine.

The Serious Crime Act 2015 also brought in a number of other changes:

• Duty to notify the police of FGM (mandatory reporting): This section places a duty on those who work in ‘regulated professions’ namely healthcare professionals, teachers and social care workers, to notify the police when, in the course of their work, they discover that an act of FGM appears to have been carried out on a girl who is under 18. Failing to comply with the duty will be dealt with via existing disciplinary measures, which may include referral to the professional regulator and/or Disclosure and Barring Service as appropriate. This duty is effective from 31st October 2015. Further guidance on the mandatory reporting duty can be found in the Home Office guidance Mandatory Reporting for FGM procedures. The mandatory reporting Factsheet produced by the Department of Health provides additional information for mandate reporters. An FGM Mandatory Reporting poster and FGM_mandatory_reporting_duty flowchart have also been produced
• Anonymity for victims: lifelong anonymity for alleged victims of FGM. The aim here is to increase reporting of FGM by encouraging victims to report FGM offences and to increase prosecutions by helping the victim feel safe in their anonymity if they report a crime against them.
• Duty to protect a girl: there is a new offence of failing to protect a girl under the age of 16 from FGM. A person is liable if they are ‘responsible’ (possess parental responsibility) for a girl or have assumed responsibility for caring for a girl at the time when the offence is committed against her (this can include a Local Authority who has parental responsibility).
• FGM Protection Orders: the high court or family courts will be able to make a protection order, which can be used to protect a girl who may be at risk of an FGM offence or a girl to whom FGM has been committed. It will be a criminal offence to breach the order and the penalty will be a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment or as a civil breach punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.

For more information on FGM related legislation read the Home Office Factsheet.

In April 2016 the Government released Multi-agency statutory guidance on FGM which was updated in 2020