1 The Metropolitan Police response to Female Genital MutilationProject Azure The Metropolitan Police response to Female Genital Mutilation DC Natalie Reseigh Partnership Team Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command This presentation contains images and details some may find distressing. All images contained in this presentation have been retrieved via open source on the internet Develop prevention strategies and initiatives • Educate and raise awareness amongst professionals, communities and faith leaders • Provide advice, support and guidance for referrals and investigations • Develop intelligence opportunities
2 The World Health OrganisationWhat is FGM? "Female genital mutilation ( FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non – medical reasons“ The World Health Organisation
3 Pre Conceptions ….. Isn't it the same as male circumcision?“If a boy or man underwent the same degree of mutilation as a young woman undergoing the most common form of FGM, he would have the head of his penis and around a third of the shaft removed” World Health Organisation Isn't it cultural or religious issue? There is not one holy book that advocates this practise.
4 The Different FGM TypesType 1 FGM Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris (a small, sensitive and erectile part of the female genitals) This practice is extremely painful and distressing, damages sexually sensitive skin and is an infection risk.
7 The Different FGM TypesType 4 FGM Other: all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, stretching and cauterising the genital area. This covers everything else that doesn’t fall within 1, 2 and 3
8 The Procedure NO ANESTHETICThe Instruments - Any crude cutting instrument such as a knife, broken glass, fingernails or razor blade will do, or the operator may have somehow acquired medical instruments like a scalpel, forceps or scissors. - The instruments may be new or may have already been used for other purposes and/or on other persons. - Sterilization is seldom known nor performed by these traditional operators. The Sutures - Regular surgical Catgut, Silk or Cotton thread. - Domestic sewing thread. - Vegetable or nylon fiber pre-selected by the operator.
9 Health Complications Death (Type III 10% mortality rate) Blood LossFractured bones Infection Shock Post traumatic stress disorder Urinary & menstrual obstruction, no effective outlet Pain during intercourse Infertility – Swollen tubes as a result of in effective outlet Childbirth complications
10 Motives and Functions Psychosexual – Most often cited is the promotion of virginity and fidelity. Infibulation they believe almost guarantees monogamy because of the pain associated. Uncircumcised women are seen as highly sexualised. Ceremonial - opening on wedding night. The husband sometimes forcibly performs penetration and bursts through the scar of the infibulation Sociological – Practitioners see the circumcision rituals as joyful occasions that reinforce community values and ethnic boundaries, and the procedure as an essential element in raising a girl. Social integration. Safeguarding the family honour Religious - Compliance with believed religious requirement. Children becoming too "western" Aesthetics – Genital regarded as ugly & dirty, they believe it should be flat and dry. Its deemed masculine on a girl.
11 Survivors - In their own wordsThe parents cut the daughters, because they fear the girls could become too westernised. 'I felt my flesh, my genitals, being cut away. I heard the sound of the dull blade sawing back and forth through my skin. 'It's like somebody is slicing through the meat of your thigh, or cutting off your arm, except this is the most sensitive part of your body. I passed out. 'When I woke up… the worst part of it had just begun. The Killer Woman had piled next to her a stack of thorns from the acacia tree. She used them to puncture holes in my skin, then poke a strong white thread through the holes to sew me up.' - Waris Dirie, model and campaigner Another survivor suffered the most extreme form of FGM in that her vagina was sewn up after she was cut. She was left with a hole no bigger than a matchstick that left her with a host of health problems and rendered her infertile. I recalled the moment I was cut. She said: ‘Your whole body is in pain, the scream that you scream, meant I lost my voice for a couple of days. 'The moment your genitals are cut, a part of your soul dies.’- Leyla Hussein
12 The cutters perspectiveuncut girls 'are told they smell like a dog'. There is also financial considerations. The family of a girl who is not cut cannot expect to a dowry for her hand in marriage. 'The cut girls would get money and a lot of cows for their dowry. Girls who are not cut do not get many cows, in fact they would not get a dowry.' A cutter from Kenya said: 'I was taught by the old people – my elders, my mother and my grandmother. I started to learn when I was about 12 and it took about four years to learn. After that I continued to practice. The cutter is more important than a midwife. A cutter told MailOnline: 'We use a sharp instrument like a knife or a razor blade. I put millet flour over the organs so that is not slippery so I can hold it. And the flour helps to stop the bleeding.'
13 The cutters perspectiveThe clitoris is put on the ground to be carried away by Safari ants, as part of the tradition. 'A neighbour might ask a mother if her daughter has fed the ants, as a way of asking if the girl has been circumcised.' Cutter women are paid less than £13 [2,000 Kenyan Shillings or $20.20] to carry out the life-changing procedure. Both cutter women admit that FGM victims can suffer terrible complications from the crude surgery. But perversely if a girl dies following the procedure her mother is blamed. 'If the girl becomes sick it is the failure of the mother because she should be at home looking after her daughter. I know two girls from this village who have died [after FGM].
14 A Kenyan Cultural leaders perspectiveGiving an insight into the pressure families are put under, a cultural leader of Kenya's Kisi tribe, said that ending the barbaric practice will turn Africans into 'slaves' of the West. He said: 'Circumcision is carried out by families who have left Africa to maintain their culture. Some [African families who have moved abroad] have been told to forbid their girls from getting cut. 'But these girls have no discipline and show no respect towards their relatives. The families become isolated in their own community, they become lost from their own culture and traditions. 'In Africa culture is everything. If you are out of the culture you are lost from the community. Not being circumcised is a cultural taboo. Someone who is without their culture is a slave to another culture.'
15 Prevalence In more than 28 countries in Africa and parts of the Middle East. FGM is reported amongst Bohra Muslims in India, Pakistan and East Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia. Due to migration its happening in Australia, Europe and here in the UK. In communities where FGM is the social norm, its practised by Muslims, Christians and followers of indigenous religions which suggests that the practice is more cultural than a religious practice.
16 Who is at risk? 2 million girls around the world every year are mutilated Mainly African and Middle Eastern countries and alarmingly now in the immigrant population of Europe, America and Australia Approximately 24,000 girls in the UK and 6,500 girls in London are at risk of FGM every year
17 FGM is a safeguarding issueFGM IS CHILD ABUSE!! FGM is a gender based violence, it violates a number of human rights principles, including equality and non discrimination on the basis of sex. It is Violence against women and girls and is child abuse…… It highlights the subordinate role of a woman Section 11 Children's Act makes it everyone responsibility to act and share information to safeguard a child Section 47 Children's Act 1989 – Is a Joint investigation between Police and Children's Social Care
18 Penalty – 14 years imprisonmentThe Law Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 Penalty – 5 years imprisonment Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 Penalty – 14 years imprisonment - we were first country in EU that brought in legislation to deal with FGM specifically and this legislation was brought in in 1985 act prohibits FGM being carried UK citizens, in the UK. It does not deal with girls being taken outside the UK for FGM. - Maximum of 5 years penalty - FGM act 2003, came into effect in March It broadens the previous legislation to deal with girls being subjected to FGM overseas and increased the penalty to 14 years.
19 FGM Act 2003 Offence to assist a girl to commit FGM on herself [S2]Offence to commit FGM [S1] Offence to assist a girl to commit FGM on herself [S2] Offence for someone in the UK to arrange or assist FGM outside of UK even if carried out by a person who isn’t a UK national or resident [S3] NO AGE LIMIT - ‘Girl = woman’ Defence = If it is a surgical operation necessary for physical / mental health Mental health does not include belief that FGM is required as a matter of custom or ritual Consent is not a defence - It is an offence for a UK National / permanent UK resident to carry out, aid, abet or counsel FGM in the UK or abroad on a UK national / resident – even if the practice is legal in the country in which it is carried out. S1) It is an offense to excise, infibulate or otherwise mutilate any part of a girl's labia majora, minora or clitoris S2) It is not an offence for a girl to carry out FGM on herself, but a person is guilty if s/he aids, abets, counsels or procures a girl to do so. S3) It is an offence for any person to aid, abet, counsel or procure the performance outside the UK of a relevant FGM offence on a UK national / permanent resident, by a person who is NOT a UK national / permanent resident British Citizen = British overseas territory citizen, British National. A person who under British Nationality Act 1981 is a British Subject A british protected person within the meaning of that act Permanent UK resident is person who is settled in the UK within the meaning of the immigration act 1971 May be circumstances when nationality or residence of victim / suspect may be difficult to apply to the act. In those circumstances consider other charges such as assault or child cruelty
20 New This year Extension of extra-territorial liability to "habitual" UK residents Lifelong victim anonymity Parents's and guardians' liability for failing to protect a child from FGM (Serious Crime Act 2015)
21 New this year Civil Protection Orders for FGMMandatory reporting for relevant professionals
22 Barriers Children are unlikely to ‘tell on their parents'/ too young to rememberMany from parents not known to agencies Once in a lifetime event Honour Based Violence Community Acceptance / Marriage Language / Immigration status - In Somaliland the women refer to their procedure by two names, the Sunna and the Pharaonic. In Sierra Leone its known as Bondo In Liberia its known as Sande. Unaware of the law Lack of understanding of health implications FGM is a taboo subject and rarely discussed by practicing communities. It is not spoken about within the home or in the wider community, so the chances of a child speaking of it to teachers, social workers or police are slim. Often the first a girl will know about FGM is when she is being pinned down and FGM is being performed
23 Indicators FGM may be about to take placeFamily from an affected community; Mother or siblings have had FGM Extended holiday, particularly to a practicing country; Child is going to “become a woman” or have a “special celebration”; Child may begin to display a behavioural change…… Indicators - FGM has already happened Girl may spend long periods of time away from the classroom associated with bladder or menstrual problems; The child requiring to be excused from physical exercise; Prolonged absences from school plus a noticeable behaviour change…..
24 MPS Response 1. Project AzureDedicated SPOCS on each CAIT team and across 9 priority boroughs Supported Dept. Of Health with conferences across the UK LSCB training events for harmful practises Training for Police/UKBF/Health/Education Operation Limelight Hosted FGM Conference and harmful practises events NSPCC Helpline / Protocol with CPS Produced a guidance for schools
25 Thank you for listening… Any questions?Where do you stand? Thank you for listening… Any questions?