Hansard

There can be no justification for female genital mutilation, and I welcome the Scottish Government’s efforts at home as well as the UK Government’s efforts abroad to tackle this awful crime.

I take this opportunity, as the cabinet secretary did, to raise awareness of the international day of zero tolerance for FGM, which is next Monday.

FGM, which involves the full or partial removal of young girls’ genitals, has no health benefits and, although it is carried out for a number of reasons, in many cases it is done solely to improve a daughter’s marriage prospects. It stems from a deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and can only be seen as a violation of the rights of women and girls, no matter their cultural background.

The ramifications, both physical and psychological, can be massive. FGM is commonly performed by people with no medical training and without proper consideration for hygiene. Complications can include severe bleeding, problems urinating, cysts, infections and infertility, as well as complications in childbirth and an increased risk of new-born deaths.

In 2015, a survivor of the crime who is now living in Glasgow spoke bravely about her experience to a local newspaper to raise awareness of FGM. Forced to undergo the procedure at the age of four in her home country of Gambia, she spoke of being locked in a house with 50 to 60 girls who were as young as three months old. She described the ordeal as destroying her life by affecting her mental health and her desire to form a relationship with a man; she also described the infections that she regularly picked up.

Worldwide, UNICEF estimates that at least 200 million girls and women have been subjected to the practice of FGM across 30 countries. I am pleased that the UK has been a key player internationally in trying to tackle it. The Department for International Development has allocated £184 million to a number of programmes that are tackling gender violence issues such as FGM, forced marriage and female infanticide. It has allocated £35 million specifically to reduce FGM by 30 per cent in 17 countries across Africa.

As we all know, however, the practice also takes place behind closed doors in homes across the UK. The UK Government estimates that 170,000 women and girls in the UK have undergone the procedure. In Scotland, it is understood that nearly 3,000 girls have been born to mothers who were born in FGM-practising countries.

I commend the work that the Scottish Government has done on the issue. The 2005 act, which updated Scottish legislation, increased the maximum penalty for the crime to 14 years and made it illegal for family members to take girls abroad to carry out the practice. “Scotland’s National Action Plan to Prevent and Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) 2016-2020”, which was produced last year, went a long way in forming the preventative educational measures that are needed to raise awareness of FGM. Among those measures were letters and presentations to raise awareness among teachers and healthcare professionals, and the internal guidance produced by Police Scotland for officers who deal with honour-based violence. The Scottish Government also allocates money to a number of programmes and organisations for improving women’s rights as part of its violence against women and girls budget.

I will always support a consensual approach to issues such as FGM and other forms of honour-based violence. It is important that we get this right for every girl who is at risk in Scotland, and that we work together to build on the efforts and initiatives of the past. However, it would be wrong of me not to raise some important points and not to look at what is happening down south and at least bring to the debate initiatives that are taking place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In that regard, I welcome the cabinet secretary’s input about the report that the Scottish Government has received and will look into, which I will come on to. Those initiatives include the mandatory reporting by doctors, nurses and education professionals of FGM cases in females aged 18 and under, and FGM protection orders.

In December 2014, the Scottish Refugee Council published its report “Tackling Female Genital Mutilation in Scotland”, which the Scottish Government commissioned and which, as I have referred to, the cabinet secretary is going to review. Among its recommendations were that statutory bodies should report FGM cases and that a strong criminal justice message needed to be sent out.

As we see in the rest of the UK, court protection orders mean that potential victims can be protected, for example by the mandatory surrendering of passports so that families are not able to travel abroad. The UK Government has been actively encouraging all agencies, including local authorities, social workers, police forces and schools, to make use of those orders. The mandatory reporting of FGM cases involving females aged 18 and under by healthcare professionals and teachers has meant that the statistics are now more reliable when it comes to estimating the number affected. Underreporting exists, of course, which is why measures such as anonymity for victims who are at risk of being identified are so important.

It is important that we all question the lack of successful FGM-related prosecutions in Scotland and the rest of the UK since FGM became illegal in 1985—in fact, as we know, there have not been any. However, I welcome the information that all reports of the crime are being fully investigated by Police Scotland, and rightly so.

Comments have been made in the past about families travelling to the UK to have the procedure done due to a perceived leniency here. There is room for us to be tougher on this awful crime.

I end by noting just some of the efforts that are made in Glasgow to tackle FGM and other forms of honour-based violence. Rape Crisis Glasgow’s ruby project, for example, supports victims of sexual violence, including those who have suffered FGM.

I thank the Scottish Government for bringing this vitally important issue to the chamber today and for the renewed focus on tackling FGM. We must work together to build on the efforts of the past to prevent such abuse from occurring in the first place, to support those who fall victim to honour-based violence and to ensure that robust criminal sanctions are in place for those who commit abuse.

I move amendment S5M-03761.1, to insert at end:

“, and recognises the international work of the UK Government, which has allocated £35 million to reduce FGM by 30% in 17 countries across Africa.”