London (CNN)Concerns about female genital mutilation, or FGM, are rising in the UK after the number of children who’ve had the procedure or are at risk of it more than doubled in the past year. Social workers carrying out assessments in 2017-2018 classified 1,960 children as either having undergone or being at risk of FGM. The figure marks a […]

Seyeda has been rejected by her family, abused and raped because she is gay – but is determined to be out and proud. The 42-year-old from Pakistan believes she would have been killed if she had not moved to the UK. “I can’t even imagine (what would have happened). I don’t think I would be […]

Doctors in the Black Country are recording an average of nearly 12 cases of female genital mutilation every month. Between April and June this year, 35 cases of female genital mutilation were newly recorded by doctors in our area, latest figures from NHS Digital reveal. This does not necessarily mean that the woman or girl […]

A woman who was found on fire in a garden is being treated for life-threatening burns after neighbours came to her aid. Neighbours said they wrapped the woman in cling film after putting out the flames. Cleveland Police said they were called to the incident on Acklam Road in Middlesbrough at about 12:40 GMT. A […]

Mitesh Patel is standing trial accused of wife Jessica’s murder  The husband of an alleged murder victim was unfaithful to his wife – having met men for sexual intercourse. Mitesh Patel, 37, is due to stand trial accused of the murder of his wife Jessica Patel, with whom he ran a pharmacy in Roman Road, Linthorpe. The […]

Nazir Afzal, talks to the BBC about Child Sex Exploitation and why we need to do more.

COMMUNITIES should help the police by reporting suspicions related to forced marriage, a campaigner has urged, as she revealed she felt UK politicians were failing victims. Jasvinder Sanghera, the founder of Karma Nirvana which supports victim of honour-based abuse, also warned more children would suffer because of the government’s failures. Sanghera, who was disowned by […]

A campaign raising awareness of the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM) has been launched by the government as the practice remains “cloaked in secrecy”. As many as 100,000 women and girls in the UK are estimated to have undergone the illegal procedure, but a fraction of that number have disclosed it to the NHS. Despite the strengthening […]

Around 50 girls are being treated in hospital in Burkina Faso after botched circumcisions, or female genital mutilation (FGM), a minister says. Not all girls who underwent the circumcision have been traced, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Laurence Marshall Ilboudo, said. Two 60-year-old women, along with the parents of some of the girls, have been arrested. […]