Clause 1 - Offence of female genital mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation Bill
2:30 pm
Dr Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
I have a few things to say about the Bill as I have some direct personal experience that will be useful to the Committee.
I remember vividly my first experience some 15 years ago of a patient who had suffered female genital mutilation. A beautiful young anglicised Somali girl who had been in this country for some time asked if I could examine her and give her some advice because she wanted to be married. When I looked at her, I found that she had the appearance of a baby doll—all the women here will know that dolls are noted for their lack of sexuality. Apart from a hole where the urine and the blood presumably came out, there was nothing there. I could not believe it, and I confess that I did not know what I was looking at; I had to refer the girl on. I hope that after some reconstructive surgery she was able to have some sort of marital relations with her husband.
That experience was extremely shocking to me. I do not want people to think that the procedure is not very terrible. It makes one faint to think that not only does the process take place without anaesthetic, antibiotics or antiseptics, but the girl is held down while it is done.
I should like to add that I am not in favour of unnecessary surgical operations on female organs—or male organs, for that matter. Sometimes we do not address that seriously enough or make sufficient provision to ensure that such procedures are carried out under proper surgical conditions and for good medical reasons.
The first question that I hope the promoter of the Bill can answer is whether the reason that we have never had any prosecutions under the 1985 Act is to do with the ignorance of medical professionals, people working in education and the police. I was totally ignorant and think that there may be a lot of ignorance on the subject, which has resulted in there being no prosecutions and people hesitating to go down that route. We must address that important issue. If there is to be any secondary legislation once the Bill is made law, will it say anything about education of medical and nursing professionals, teachers or the police? If children are going to be taken out of the country and brought back again, ostensibly for a holiday, how can we check whether they are intact before they go and are not intact when they come back? I have wrestled with that question. Sensitive handling by doctors, teachers and the police will be required.