
The NSPCC
children‘s charity has referred 34 potential cases of female genital mutilation to the Metropolitan police as a result of calls
to an anonymous helpline launched less than three months ago to help tackle a
crime understood to affect more than 70 women and girls a month in the UK.
John Cameron, head of the helpline, said the 93 calls received so far
had come from members of the communities that practise female genital
mutilation, which is a criminal offence carrying a sentence of up to 14
years in prison in the UK, as well as education and healthcare
professionals seeking advice. The calls showed the “need for a single
anonymous point of contact for information”, he said.
The details emerged as police and prosecutors called for members of
these communities as well as education and health professionals to come
forward and report so-called “cutters”. Female genital mutilation has
been illegal in the UK since 1985, yet there have been no prosecutions
to date. Three years ago, in an effort to stamp out a practice estimated
to affect a total of 66,000 women and girls in England and Wales, the
crime was extended to anyone who took a girl overseas to be cut, or
helped anyone else do so.
Keith Niven, detective chief superintendent responsible for child
abuse and rape in the Metropolitan police service, said those working in
education, health and social services all needed to help spot children
at risk. “If people have genuinely held cultural beliefs [that FGM is
acceptable], their views and opinions need to be changed. This is a
harmful practice.”
A roundtable meeting called by the director of public prosecutions,
Keir Starmer, on Thursday heard from government ministers, police
officers, heathcare professionals, social services and other interested
parties keen to stamp out the abuse. Calling for greater public
awareness and a more co-ordinated response, Starmer said he saw signs of
progress. “It’s not a question of whether there will be a prosecution
but when,” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “It’s now only a
question of time.”
He welcomed the “considerable progress” that had been made in the
past 12 months. “A year ago we had a situation where people were barely
aware of what was going on,” he said. There were no cases referred to
the CPS before 2010.
Since starting to record cases of possible FGM in 2009, the Met has
received 186 referrals. “That doesn’t reflect the nature and extent of
this issue,” admitted Niven. “My ambition is that we get more referrals
from education, health professionals and social services … The police
are at the end of this process. It’s all gone wrong when it gets to us.”
Evidence of how few cases get referred to the police came from Avon
and Somerset health service where one midwife recorded 117 cases in one
nine-month period.
A health professional at the roundtable raised concerns about
confidentiality but Starmer said: “I understand the concern about
confidentiality but we need to be clear here that FGM is a serious
crime, an offence that carries a penalty of 14 years.”
To calls for a co-ordinated response from schools when teachers spot
signs of potential abuse, Martin Howarth, head of children’s rights and
wellbeing at the Department for Education, indicated that his department
was unlikely to produce national guidelines for schools to follow in
suspected cases of FGM. “We are reducing the amount of central guidance
that goes out to schools. There are tensions in this.”
Asked why prosecution was so important, Starmer, who leaves the CPS
next month, said: “It will send a very powerful message about the fact
that FGM is unacceptable.”
Anyone who is worried that a child is at risk of or has been a victim of FGM can contact
the NSPCC helpline 0800 028 3550 for information and support.