‘FGM’ parents tracked
Parents suspected of taking their daughters to Africa for female genital mutilation are to be stopped by police at airports and tracked when they return to Britain.
Families travelling to countries such as Sierra Leone and Somalia will be given leaflets warning that FGM is a serious criminal offence and that they will be investigated upon their return if there is any suspicion that that their children have been harmed.
Scotland Yard will be helped by the UK Border Agency to monitor travel patterns so that potential victims can be traced on their return. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met Commissioner, said that the operation was part of a drive to prosecute the ‘‘vile crime’’.
No one has ever been convicted of FGM even though it was criminalised almost 30 years ago, with research indicating that more than 65,000 girls aged under 13 in Britain are at risk.
‘‘We are warning people on the way out. It is very clear what the law is. It is very hard for them to come back and say they weren’t aware. We’re trying our best to deter,’’ Sir Bernard said.
Sir Bernard said that referrals to police from the education and health authorities were extremely low and that they needed to do more to tackle the issue. It was ‘‘very hard to understand’’ why police were not getting referrals when medical practitioners should be able to identify FGM during standard checks on children or childbirth later in life.
He said that teachers also needed to recognise and refer cases where children were taken out of school and came back with symptoms.
He acknowledged that tackling FGM was ‘‘not straightforward’’ but said that there were many victims and there had been a failure by the authorities to prosecute. ‘‘It may be about a hyper-sensitivity to cultural reactions. But the law is very clear. I think in the medical world, education, police and prosecution authorities, we have to have a joint determination to see this as a high priority.’’
Martin Hewitt, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said that the number of referrals to the police was too low. ‘‘There is a degree of activity but I don’t think it is a degree of activity that is currently proportionate to the scale of what we think the problem is in the UK at the moment.’’
There have been 161 referrals of FGM allegations to the Met since 2010, with 69 of them last year. There have been 12 arrests, with five people on bail. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether charges should be brought in 10 cases in London.
Sir Bernard revealed that some cases had not gone ahead because it involved a child implicating its parents and, despite making an initial complaint, the victims tended to withdraw from the prosecution. He signalled a change in police strategy, saying that ‘‘cutters’’ – invariably women – who carried out female genital mutilation, would be targeted instead of parents because there was ‘‘no emotional bond’’ with the victims.
Sir Bernard called on people in African communities to reject a culture of silence and let police know who was carrying out procedures and where they took place.
‘‘We don’t think the referrals are anywhere near the extent of the problem,’’ he said. ‘‘It must be that there is some cultural resistance to either get involved with the police generally or reporting this particular crime.’’