MSP Mary Fee has called for a global effort to end the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The West Scotland politician spoke during a debate supporting International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.

In Scotland, it is estimated that 24,000 living in the country today were born in lands that practise FGM and 12 women were killed as a result of so-called honour-based violence, she noted.

Speaking during the debate, Mrs Fee stated: “The practice of FGM and honour-based violence is driven by the deep-rooted unequal power relationship between men and women across the globe

“Education is key to tackling FGM and honour-based violence.

“A grass-roots approach that aims to alter cultural views on FGM might be a slow process, but it is a necessary one and an effective means in the fight to eradicate FGM across the globe.

“It is important to teach young boys and men that FGM is an extremely dangerous procedure that is not a religious requirement, a prerequisite for marriage or a rite-of-passage ritual.

“It is quite simply an unnecessary, barbaric act that violates women’s and girls’ human rights.”

So little was known, until recently, about the secretive practice of FGM in a small  Muslim community that India is not even on the UN’s list of FGM countries.

India’s Dawoodi Bohra community has been so closeted about its practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that its recent disclosure shocked even women’s rights activists. It was the highly publicised criminal trial of the FGM of two Bohra girls in Australia, in 2010 and 2011, which shattered the secrecy around this practice.  Following investigation and trial, the mother of the girls, the midwife and a Bohra priest in Australia were sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2016.

They are a Shia Muslim sect that migrated to India  from Yemen in the 12th century.  Their custom of FGM probably originated in Yemen as it’s still a widespread practice there. The Bohra population is only about one million in size, with most settled in western India, and smaller communities in other countries.

KENYA

A PASTOR in Kenya is making a stand against female genital mutilation (FGM) to protect his daughters from an “injustice that would rob them” of their human rights, education, and well-being, an anti-FGM campaigner in the country, Susan Krop, has reported.

The pastor, Emmanuel Longelech, and his three daughters, live in West Pokot, a region of Kenya where an estimated 72 per cent of girls undergo FGM — also known as female circumcision. There are no known health benefits of the procedure, which can cause severe long-term physical and mental damage.

EGYPT :

The world celebrated the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on Monday. It is a day meant to display our collective resistance to the crime of female genital mutilation (FGM), which is in the sixth of February every year.

The fact is that this heinous crime still assassinates the innocence of many girls, casting its long shadow over developing nations. This crime requires more than criminalisation and developed legislation.

From a historical angle, until 2007 there was no real legislation that criminalised FGM, which contributed to the dramatic spread of FGM. Some agencies have estimated that FGM rates in Egpt could be as high as 90%.

Bristol has one of the highest rates of Female Genital Mutilation in the country and university boffins are hoping to discover why.

It will look at why FGM continues to be a major problem in certain areas such as Bristol.

It comes as Avon and Someret Police lead the way in investigating the phenomenon having put ten girls on protection orders from FGM) using a new set of laws.

A case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is either discovered or treated at a medical appointment in England every hour, a charity has said.

Plan International UK said statistics showed there were 8,656 times when a girl or woman was assessed at a doctor’s surgery or hospital.

Charity boss Tanya Barron said: “These figures are once again a reminder of the global prevalence of FGM.”

An estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide are affected.

The NHS figures analysed were between April 2015 and March 2016. They show a patient was assessed on average every 61 minutes. Among those who attended, a case of FGM is newly recorded every 92 minutes on average.

Red Triangle initiative aims to encourage people to give police information to detect and prevent female genital mutilation

Commander Mak Chishty, the police national lead on “honour”-based violence, has written to every police force in the country reminding them that while progress has been made, there is yet to be a successful prosecution for FGM.

His letter also cited a prevalence study published in July 2015 by City University and Equality Now, the human rights group, which showed that no local authority in the UK was unaffected by FGM.