Labour asks Government to back FGM proposals

Seema Malhotra, Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls, has asked the Government to back plans that would make it an offence to encourage Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Mahotra has tabled an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill that would give police the power to issue an Encouragement Warning Notices (EWNs) if someone directly or indirectly encourages others to commit FGM.

If this notice was ignored, the police would then issue an Encouragement Warning Orders (EWOs), which, if breached, would be a criminal offence.

On the amendment, Malhotra explained:

“If we are to end FGM we need a proper prevention strategy. Tackling the social pressure on parents to cut their daughters is key to this. We support the range of measures already in the Bill but neither they nor the current laws go far enough. Only two prosecutions for FGM have been brought since 2003, one of which was dropped before it reached court. Yet an estimated 60,000 girls under 15 are at risk of being mutilated and cut each year.”

“The UK has international law obligations to actively tackle FGM. Preventative measures and reactive measures are needed to fulfil those obligations. We want to break the cycle and end the practice of Female Genital Mutilation within a generation. To do so we need to take strong action, and we need to take that action now.”