Clause 1 - Offence of female genital mutilation
Female Genital Mutilation Bill
2:30 pm
Dr Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
I was just asking the question, because often detailed provisions are found in secondary legislation that is drawn up by the relevant Department to back up primary legislation that we have passed. I remember from when I was a member
of the Standing Committee that considered what became the Export Control Act 2002 that the devil was in the detail. I am just asking whether we are going to ensure that professionals who may have to verify that FGM practices are being carried out have received the proper training. How are we going to introduce such a very intrusive examination? It will be difficult to police, for example, the case of a young girl who has been given indefinite leave to remain here, has become a British citizen, yet is taken off to north Africa or wherever for a ''holiday''—in fact, for that operation to be done.
Will the legislation cover asylum seekers who have perhaps been given a year in which to remain in this country, or will only residents and British citizens be covered? Non-governmental organisations have raised that issue. It is important that we protect asylum seekers who come to this country—indeed, I think that escaping FGM should be a reason to grant asylum. Any woman who has faced it and managed to get away from the country where it happened should be granted asylum without more ado. We must consider that.
The other thing that worries me slightly is the wording in respect of reasons of mental health. I know how much cosmetic breast surgery has been carried out in the private sector in this country for mental health reasons: we do not like our big boobs, or we do not like our very tiny ones, or whatever. Often the reason given for such surgery is that the mental health of the woman concerned is being affected and therefore the surgeon, at great price, will carry out the operation.
The same can be said—again, I speak from some medical experience—about vaginas that do not quite fit the bill, for example, they may not fit the requirements of someone's partner. I have seen many such cases, and it is not always a result of childbirth. Mental health reasons could be cited in such cases. I am sure that Committee members all have copies of the advert for ''designer vaginas'' sent by one of the NGOs; it makes one feel slightly sick. However, when we remember that there are now designer breasts and that women are required to be very sexual creatures and attractive to the opposite sex in many complicated ways, we have cause to be worried.
Those are the questions in my mind. I hope that the promoter of the Bill will be able to go some way to addressing them.
Several hon. Members rose—