What is FGM? Why is Female Genital Mutilation performed in the UK and who are the victims?

Georgia Chambers, Katy Clifton

Updated 1 February 2019 at 0:05 pm

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What is FGM? Why is Female Genital Mutilation performed in the UK and who are the victims?

Every year, it's estimated that three million girls are subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) worldwide.

There are around 137,000 women and girls affected by FGM in England and Wales alone, according to the NSPCC.

Police and border control officers have recently stepped up their efforts to tackle FGM at airports on both sides of the Atlantic.

Amanda Reid, the national operational lead for safeguarding and modern slavery in the Border Force, said: "We're here to send that message that FGM is a criminal act and we want to protect girls."

FGM campaigner Leyla Hussein previously warned that although the practice, which involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia, is illegal in the UK, some girls still see it as a cultural practice.

Many victims are taken to other parts of the world to get cut, such as North Africa and the Middle East.

On Friday, a mother of a three-year-old girl became the first person in the UK to be found guilty of FGM at the Old Bailey.

The Ugandan woman, 37, and her Ghanaian partner, 43, both from Walthamstow, east London, were accused of cutting their daughter over the 2017 summer bank holiday.

The mother wept in the dock as she was found guilty of FGM and her partner was cleared of all charges after the Old Bailey jury deliberated for less than a day.

Here's everything you need to know about FGM and why it's practiced in some cultures:

What is FGM?

FGM includes "the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."

Most often the mutilation is performed before puberty, often on girls between the age of four and eight.

There has, however, been reports of FGM being performed on young babies.

What's involved in the procedure?

There are four types of procedures, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO):

Type I: Partial or total removal of the clitoris
Type II: Partial or total removal of the clitoris and labia (lips that surround the vagina), with or without removal of the labia majora (outer lips).
Type III: Narrowing of the vaginal orifice with the creation of a covering seal, formed by cutting and repositioning the labia.
Type IV: All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

Where is it practised?

The practice can be found in communities all over the world.

FGM is known to be practiced in some African countries, including Ghana, Sudan and Somalia.

It's also practiced in Asian countries like India and Indonesia, in Middle-Eastern countries like the UAE and Yemen, in Eastern European countries like Georgia and the Russian Federation and South American countries like Columbia and Ecuador.

FGM is also practiced among diaspora populations in Western countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and the UK.

Why is FGM performed?

FGM is performed for a variety of reasons but is often a result of deeply entrenched gender inequality within a society.

It is sometimes carried out to ensure virginity before marriage and fidelity afterwards, and to increase male sexual pleasure.

FGM can also be seen as a signifier of a girl's initiation into womanhood and some communities view the female genitalia as dirty and ugly.

What is 'cutting season'?

'Cutting season' is the term given to the period over the summer holidays where potentially thousands of girls in the UK are flown abroad to undergo FGM.

Who is at risk?

In the UK, the Home Office has identified girls from the Somali, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Sudanese, Sierra Leonean, Egyptian, Nigerian, Eritrean, Yemeni, Kurdish and Indonesian communities most at risk of FGM.

Girls are also at risk if FGM has been carried out on their mother, sister or a member of their extended family.

Why is it dangerous?

FGM has serious consequences for the sexual and reproductive health of girls and women.

During the procedure, complications include severe pain, shock and haemorrhage.

Long-term effects include complications during childbirth, urinary tract infections, lack of sexual pleasure and infertility.

Young women who have had their vaginal opening sealed will also need to have it cut open again later to allow for sexual intercourse.

Psychologically, the process is also deeply disturbing, with women affected going on to suffer from anxiety and depression.

What's the legal status of FGM?

In 2016, the United Nations adopted The Girl Child Resolution, which recognises FGM as a form of "discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl child."

In the UK, it's illegal to practice FGM and for UK nationals to perform FGM abroad. The maximum penalty for FGM is 14 years.

What's being done to stop FGM?

The government has put increasing efforts into tackling FGM in recent years and it is now compulsory for family doctors, hospitals and mental health services to report any new cases in their patients.

There's still much more to be done though. There have been 6,195 cases recorded between April 2017 and March this year - but there is yet to be a successful prosecution involving FGM.

If you know someone who has undergone or is at risk from FGM, you should contact the police.

If the victim has already been taken abroad, you should contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Who was the first convicted of FGM in the UK?

The mother of a three-year-old girl has become the first to be found guilty of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK, after a failed bid to "shut up" her accusers with witchcraft.