Nimco Ali helped launch the Standard’s campaign against female genital mutilation, bravely revealing her own experience of the brutal practice. Four years later, she  tells Anna Davis she is astounded at the progress being made to eradicate it Attitudes towards the brutal practice have changed dramatically since she first spoke out and there have been […]

our parents and Tinder are two things that should never be combined. But that’s what arranged marriages are like. Instead of an app, it’s your parents suggesting who you should hook up with (till death do you part, though). Let’s clear up that arranged marriages aren’t necessarily forced marriages. Arranged marriages feel like your parents […]

Young women under the age of 25 were victims in about half of all sexual offence cases brought by the Crown Prosecution Service last year, while women aged 24 and under also made up a quarter of domestic abuse victims. Statistics on victims’ ages in cases of violence against women and girls have been released […]

Alleged sex crimes and domestic abuse offences now account for one in five cases pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service, it has been revealed. They made up nearly 20% of the organisation’s caseload in 2016-17, compared with less than a tenth a decade ago after a huge surge in the categories, new figures show. The […]

Your sponsored roundtable on educating girls (Society, 4 October) is to be commended both for laying bare the critical need to address this issue in general, and for acknowledging the complications and taboos around menstruation as a severe obstacle to progress. It is difficult to understand, however, why the painful topic of female genital mutilation […]

Forced marriage is included for first time in worldwide statistics that show ‘money and debt’ to be at the heart of the exploitation An estimated 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2016, a quarter of them children, according to new global slavery statistics released today. The figures, from the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) and […]

A 13-year-old girl is believed to have become one of India’syoungest ever “honour killing” victims after her father allegedly beat her head against a wall and set her on fire because he saw her talking to a boy. The teenager was beaten and strangled by her father before he set fire to the body and tried […]

What is the connection between forced marriage and slavery? At its core, slavery involves treating people as if they are property When I was thirteen, even though I didn’t realise it at the time, I was incredibly lucky to be ‘suffering’ through high school and working at the local burger joint on weekends. Not all […]

Police are targeting Eurostar terminals to protect children from female genital mutilation (FGM) as officers say they are ‘absolutely determined’ to obtain the first successful prosecution for the crime since it was outlawed over 30 years ago. Inspector Allen Davis, from Scotland Yard’s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command, said it was ‘really important’ […]