As the government begins to tackle the very troubling, barbaric practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM, commonly nicknamed 'cutting' where part of or all of a girl's outer genitals are cut out then stitched up in a bid to make her never feel any sexual pleasure, resulting in trauma, infection and even death), MPs have been told that 'cutting' parties are still being held in the UK.
The practice mostly takes place in African countries, prompting fears that 20,000 girls in the UK were at risk of being flown abroad during the summer holidays to be be 'cut' by a senior member of the community, normally an older woman.
However, a select committee heard that 'cutters' are being flown over from these countries so they can attend events where up to a dozen girls – aged under 13 – are mutilated at a time.
'By the time the girls are cut, the woman "cutter" is on her flight back to the country she came from,' explained Janet Fyle of the Royal College of Midwives. 'We can't go after the cutter. We don't know who she or he is. The parents have to be held responsible.'
This was backed up by Professor Janice Rymer of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who said that there's no way of knowing how much this is going on.* The Guardian* reports her as saying: 'We have no idea. We have no data, but I am sure it is happening in this country.'
The reason for so many low prosecutions for FGM – there have only been two prosecutions for FGM in this countrysince the practice was officially outlawed in 1985 – is because there is nothing UK authorities can do if the cutting took place abroad. However, if it's happening here, and police know in good time, more arrests could happen, hopefully leading to people realising that FGM has serious consequences for those who carry it out.
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Picture: Corbis
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.