Hansard

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

I join colleagues throughout the chamber in welcoming the opportunity to recognise the international day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation, and I reiterate Scottish Labour’s full support for the Scottish Government’s motion and indeed the national action plan. I also put on the record my recognition of the cabinet secretary’s strong leadership in the area. It is important that we have women in our Parliament, but it is equally important that we have feminists in our Parliament, and we have certainly seen that in action today from members throughout the chamber, male and female.

Female genital mutilation is unquestionably a complete violation of the rights of women and girls across the world. As the cabinet secretary said in her opening speech, it has no place in society. Ruth Maguire touched on the fact that it is the most extreme act on a spectrum of gender-based violence, but she also said that, although it is easy to condemn FGM, it is less easy to eradicate it.

I think that we all take the point that we have a responsibility to call out low-level sexism and misogyny. We were all horrified by the way that Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh was treated in the House of Commons when she was barked at. We have to call out the humiliation of women who are in positions of power and have a voice, and I am glad that people across the political spectrum have done so.

As we have heard today, female genital mutilation has no health benefits to women and girls, and the important briefing that we received from the BMA says that there should be no acceptance of its medicalisation. There is no mild form of FGM. It is barbaric and it is mutilation.

Clare Haughey touched on the physical and psychological trauma that is involved.

This concerns little girls. In Scotland, the children at most risk are aged between seven and nine, and the summer holidays can be the time when they are robbed of their childhood for ever. Annie Wells touched on that psychological aspect in her speech.

There is absolutely no place for FGM in our society, but the difficult thing is that we do not really know the extent of it, as it is such a hidden, secret practice.

What has struck me from today’s debate is that girls are victims not just at the point at which this barbaric practice is carried out, and that the cycle continues. We have touched on the point about survivors becoming perpetrators themselves.

Over the Christmas recess, I read “The War on Women” by the late Sue Lloyd-Roberts. The first chapter is entitled “The Cruellest Cut”, and it is absolutely relevant to what we are discussing today. It is so disturbing, but I will touch on her description of the experience of a mother in the Gambia who is involved in holding down her daughter while FGM is carried out on the child. The mum is about to become the cutter in the village, as another family member has moved on from that role. She says:

“Can you imagine holding down your five-year-old daughter, and they are cutting her and she is screaming and calling out ‘Mum’ and Mum is the one who is holding down your legs and there is nothing Mum can do? So, I was shaking my head and tears were coming to my eyes and I said to my mind that, whatever happens, I will never do this, I will never do the cutting”.

She keeps that to herself, however. She adds:

“This is when I regretted having a daughter.”

That is so tragic.

Other members have talked about honour-based violence and killings. Putting those words together and getting them out has been difficult for people—if ever there was an oxymoron, that is it.

The problem is overwhelming. We have talked about how complex and difficult it is, and we cannot solve it by legislation alone. It needs cultural change. That is why the national action plan is so important.

The international day of zero tolerance for FGM is an opportunity to highlight the actions that we in Scotland can take, doing all that we can to ensure that children in this country are protected from a practice that experts tell us will cause them to suffer serious, long-term physical and mental health problems.

I am very grateful for the support across the chamber for the amendment in Mary Fee’s name. We recognise that the problem is not one that women can solve alone. We need men and leaders in communities to take that responsibility. I am proud that we are united across the chamber and that we recognise the need to work together.

As I said at the beginning of my speech, Labour welcomes the Scottish Government’s work on this issue and its action plan. We also commend Annie Wells for her amendment. We recognise the contribution that the UK Government has made in trying to combat the problem internationally. The issue absolutely requires cross-party support and international co-operation.

There have been so many fantastic speeches by colleagues today. I do not want to miss anyone out. John Finnie spoke powerfully when he said that the issue is one of power—the power that lies with men—and he also touched on the importance of community leaders. It is important that so many men have spoken in the debate. Kenneth Gibson has enlightened me—I was not aware of his previous motions on the subject. It is scary to think that they date back 16 years, but that tells us that tackling this subject is something that our Scottish Parliament has been advocating about for a long time now. It is important that we do not give up, and that we keep going on these issues.

I realise that I have been given a bit of extra time so, in closing, I will say that it is important to bring people to justice for this crime. We understand that we are all committed to prevention, but it would send a strong message if we were able to bring prosecutions. People deserve to be punished for the abuse that is being carried out on the most vulnerable people in our society.

I thank all colleagues who have made contributions today. This is not going to go away; perhaps in another 16 years, someone else will bring forward a similar motion. However, on days like today, the Parliament unites to say, “Not in our name”, whether it be in Scotland, the rest of the UK, or anywhere in the world, the practice is a barbaric violation of human rights and the Scottish Parliament will not stand for it.