Action plan to save girls from horror of FGM abuse

WOMEN’S charities have welcomed a government effort to crack down on the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has launched a new action plan to tackle the practice ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM today. It will aim to ensure healthcare workers and teachers are better able to spot the signs of girls at risk of FGM.

It is believed around 300 girls are born in Scotland every year to a woman originally from an FGM-practising country, thus potentially putting them at risk. In 2014-15, 19 girls were flagged to police as being at risk.

The National Action Plan will see affected women offered specialist mental health services. All social work offices and health boards will now require professionals with FGM expertise. Strategies to prevent violence against women and girls will also be reviewed, so extra help and services can be provided.

Women’s charities have welcomed the plan. Isabelle Kerr, manager at Rape Crisis Glasgow, said: ‘We have already been doing significant work, in the form of one-to-one and group work. The plan will give a better multi-agency focus and encourage all of us to work together.’

FGM is concentrated in African countries, Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan, and other parts of Asia and the Middle East. The true extent of the practice in the UK is unknown but the NHS estimates 137,00 are affected.

Malcolm Graham, Assistant Chief Constable at Police Scotland, said: ‘It is a comprehensive and ambitious plan for addressing this complex and often hidden abuse.

‘FGM is a serious violent crime involving the severest form of abuse of children and young women.’

FGM is illegal in Scotland and the rest of the UK, as is taking a girl abroad to undergo the procedure or facilitating it in any way.