BMJ. 2012 Dec 3;345:e8121. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e8121.
UK’s shameful record on female genital mutilation.
Lloyd-Roberts S.
BBC, London, UK. sue.lloyd-roberts@bbc.co.uk
Comment in BMJ. 2013;346:f29.
EXTRACT
Last month the Crown Prosecution Service announced plans to crack down on practitioners of female genital mutilation. Sue Lloyd-Roberts asks why we are lagging behind our European neighbours
Ayanna, a 23 year old mother now living on the 15th floor of a Glasgow tower block, fled Gambia a year ago and applied for asylum in the UK to escape an abusive husband and prevent her 6 month old baby girl from being genitally mutilated. “My husband would have insisted,” she explains. “All the women in my community have been cut.”
She says she feels safe in Scotland but tries to avoid contact with the African community. “They’ll tell me that my daughter should be cut. It’s being done here,” she says, pointing through the window at the other tower blocks which make up the Red Road housing estate. “The older women do it—the grandmothers,” she explains. “They use scissors, razor blades, or sharp knives. I know that just last week one 3 year old and a 2 week old baby were cut.”…
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