Meeting of the Parliament 01 February 2017
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to close today’s debate for the Scottish Conservatives. We can all agree that it has been an extremely moving and powerful debate with strong contributions from members right across the chamber.
I am particularly grateful to Mary Fee for her contribution. She and Monica Lennon are absolutely right to emphasise the importance of avoiding the medicalisation of FGM. That would be unacceptable and a retrograde step, as the BMA said in its briefing for today’s debate.
Ruth Maguire was also right to re-emphasise the importance of community-based solutions, and I will talk further on that in my contribution.
I was also pleased with Gordon Lindhurst’s attempts to draw our attention to the harsh reality that lots of these issues are not new. I took some hope from his remarks because, when we look back at our history, we can see that we have made significant strides when it comes to the rights of women in Scotland. That job is far from complete and it is important to recognise that, with a combined effort, real progress can be made.
That takes me neatly on to Tom Arthur’s contribution. I think that we are getting used to his trademark powerful style, and he is right to bring together some of the other issues of gender inequality and recognise that FGM cannot just be tackled in isolation. When we make sure that women’s rights are fulfilled in every aspect of their lives across our society, it empowers people to challenge the abuse to which they have been subjected.
On that note, I welcome Kenneth Gibson’s long-standing commitment to the issue, which, like other members, I became aware of only during today’s debate. I was also interested to hear about his focus on the mental health and psychological aspects of this crime because, when we look at the issue briefly, it can be easy to somehow think that we are talking purely about physical harm and it is clear that that is not the case.
Miles Briggs was right to highlight the importance of having the correct support services in place, particularly when it comes to challenging the lifelong harm that FGM causes.
In her remarks, Monica Lennon was right to emphasise the importance of securing prosecution. If we could see just one person in the UK being brought to justice for this crime, we would see an awful lot more people coming forward and that would be of tremendous symbolic importance.
All those contributions, as well as the motion and amendments, go a long way toward sending out a strong and unified message, ahead of the international day of zero tolerance on 6 February, that female genital mutilation is abhorrent and unacceptable and has no place in our society.
That said, I have to be honest enough to admit that, as a 27-year-old male preparing for this debate and researching the issues around the topic, I have not found it easy to come to terms with the horror that these practices instil in victims and survivors or to understand the cultural practices that surround female genital mutilation. We cannot afford to lose sight of that challenge. The fact that something is alien to us and is not a problem that we have encountered at first hand does not mean that it is forgivable to stand by and watch while such practices continue. Not only in countries abroad but here in Scotland, in shadowy places, behind closed doors, victims are left isolated and feel that they cannot come forward. As many colleagues have pointed out, we must be willing to stand up to the cultural challenges and not be afraid to call out breaches of human rights. No matter how sensitive we must be to the beliefs of others, there are some things that are just wrong.
That said, I agree with John Finnie and some other members that law alone is not enough. That is why we on these benches welcome the effort that the Scottish Government has put into drawing together the national action plan and focusing on a multifaceted and interagency response that brings together all aspects of public life.
The motion recognises that, in order to truly prevent and eradicate female genital mutilation, we need to look to communities and individuals that are directly affected in order to break down the barriers, change attitudes over the longer term and ensure that people are willing to talk about what is a difficult, intimate and deeply disturbing and upsetting subject. However, we cannot leave the work to those communities alone. As many members across the chamber have graciously done, I welcome the international efforts of the UK Government on behalf of us all to try to tackle some of the cultural issues that are at the root of this matter, rather than waiting until events have taken place. We all need to reflect on that and look to see what more we can do to promote education and to change people’s minds.
Today, we have heard many statistics and have listened to examples of where these practices are going on and of some of the legal challenges that we face. However, I would not be doing this subject justice if I did not outline some of the testimony of those who have been personally affected. While preparing for today’s debate, I was truly moved by the words of a Somali girl who actually wanted to be cut. She said:
“I had absolutely no idea that this was wrong. I thought it was completely normal ... It was like a rite of passage, like something really wonderful was about to happen to you ... From a young age you were told girls who weren’t cut were promiscuous ... If you weren’t cut you were isolated. No child wants to be that girl who nobody wants to play with because they’re dirty and unclean ... It was a really big deal, something that I really wanted to happen to me.”
That, in itself, tells us how difficult an area this is to deal with and just what a challenge we have ahead of us if female genital mutilation is to be eradicated.
We have a plan of action, but the challenge will be delivering on it. There is a willingness across the chamber to take the issue forward, but we cannot just have a debate here and then forget about the issue or place it to one side. We need to keep a continual focus on the national action plan and ensure that it delivers and that it meets the changing challenges.
We on this side of the chamber fully support the Scottish Government in its efforts on the subject and recognise the need to do more in Scotland and globally.
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