Hansard

I commend Margaret McCulloch for taking this opportunity to mark the international day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation—a practice that infringes the basic human rights and health of women across the world.

This cruel practice, which is often carried out with crude tools and without anaesthetic, has no basis in medical necessity but is embedded in a long-standing cultural system that is deeply patriarchal. As such, in seeking to intervene and change attitudes in communities where the practice is present, we must ensure that any Scottish action plan takes a consultative approach, engaging with knowledgeable charities and community leaders as much as possible. Only through working with communities will we be able to identify where this most violent and cruel form of repression is prevalent, raise awareness and punish perpetrators.

All women have a human right to feel safe within their families and as part of society as a whole. Safety means equality, security and absolute freedom over their own bodies and wellbeing. “Equally Safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls” encapsulates those rights and shows how policies can be put in place to tackle all forms of violence, repression and abuse of women. FGM is included, but in light of reports both here and throughout the United Kingdom it is only right that we as a Parliament look to develop a more targeted and long-term action plan, and I welcome the publication of the draft for consultation last week. It looks to prevent future mutilation by protecting young girls who are at risk while also seeking to provide accessible and anonymous support for women who are trying to survive with physical and mental scars.

One such survivor, Nimco Ali, was cut as a seven-year-old while on holiday in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. She set up the Daughters of Eve charity, which works to protect women from FGM, and she shared her experience in advance of zero tolerance day:

“FGM is a brutal practice, but it is also a very simple one to end. If you stop one woman having FGM done to her then you break that link and prevent it being done to the next generation. I came from a family that was 100% FGM and that has gone down to zero in a generation. It is something that can be ended. We are finally shaking the taboo of FGM, but we have to be vigilant and cannot be complacent.”

Ms Ali wants FGM to be discussed as part of mandatory sexual and relationship education classes at schools in England. I do not see why Scotland should be any different, and I would welcome the minister commenting on that. Children of all backgrounds have the capacity to break the cycle, and their awareness and support of classmates can help to change this cruel cultural norm.

The draft action plan states:

“FGM will continue to be a problem in Scotland until communities themselves choose to abandon the practice and we recognise that in order to find a solution to eradicate FGM, working with potentially affected communities is vital to breaking the cycle of violence.”

I pay tribute to the organisations that work with those communities in Scotland to achieve eradication.

The Scottish Refugee Council report “Tackling Female Genital Mutilation in Scotland: A Scottish model of intervention” looked at existing census data and sought to provide a picture, albeit limited, of the extent of the risk to communities that are living here now. The findings are highlighted in the draft action plan. There are approximately 24,000 men, women and children living in Scotland who were born in a country that is affected to some extent by FGM. There are communities that are potentially affected by FGM in every Scottish local authority area—the largest such communities are in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee, in that order. Some 2,750 girls were born in Scotland to mothers who were born in an FGM-practising country between 2001 and 2012.

That is the scale of the potential problem, but we can eradicate FGM in Scotland by taking a consultative approach that is mindful of the many cultural factors that I mentioned. No woman should feel at risk, and no child should feel that they are powerless over their own body. Such abuse can never be tolerated and should never be the norm for any community. The equality and human rights of all womankind demand that all nations stand as one against this cruel practice, on zero tolerance day and every other day.