My Lords, first, I should like to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Rendell of Babergh, for introducing this useful Bill today. She is a doughty campaigner and champion of the cause of ending this noxious practice, which the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, described so vividly and painfully to us. As the noble Baroness said, the Bill puts right some defects in existing legislation as regards the horrific and totally unacceptable practice of female genital mutilation.

First, the Bill changes the description of the practice from female circumcision to female genital mutilation. I thoroughly support that. The medical value of circumcision for boys may be debatable. But, as a physical Intervention, it cannot be compared to the practice of cutting, partial removal and/or sewing up of the external female genitalia, which is what is meant by the ostensibly benign phrase, "female circumcision". In this case, it is highly desirable that the law should call a spade a spade.

Secondly, the Bill removes a loophole in existing legislation. It enables people who take their children abroad to obtain genital mutilation to be prosecuted in this country, whether or not it is an offence in the country in which the mutilation takes place. As the noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, said, this is an extension of the principle of territoriality. One may be against extra-territoriality in some cases, but this is a case in which it is justified.

As my Honourable Friend Sandra Gidley put it in a debate on this Bill in Another place, female genital mutilation is subjugation of the female to the male. It is also child abuse. I do not accept that there should be any reluctance to take the action necessary to eradicate this practice, even though I can easily understand that some professionals may be afraid to intervene because such action could lay them open to charges of racism.

Thirdly, I support the provision to increase the maximum penalty provided for the offences of procuring or carrying out female genital mutilation. This additional, extended penalty emphasises the seriousness of the offence in the eyes of the law and of citizens in the United Kingdom.

In sum, we support the Bill and will do nothing to impede its progress through the House. However, there are some other considerations slightly beyond the remit of the Bill itself which I wish to raise briefly in the hope that the Minister may be able to respond to them positively when she intervenes in the debate.

I turn to the lack of prosecutions brought under the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985, to which several other speakers have referred. This failure to implement the existing legislation has led to suggestions that there is little sense in increasing penalties for crimes which are never brought to court. It may be that the broadening of the scope of the legislation proposed in this Bill will in itself make prosecution more likely because of the greater difficulty of procuring genital mutilation abroad. Alternatively, the increase in penalties may bring home to people society's total condemnation of this disgraceful practice and thus act as a deterrent. I am sure we all hope that this will be the case.

On the other hand it seems that attitudes differ from country to country in their attitude towards the prosecution of those who procure or practise female genital mutilation. The practice is most widespread in Africa and, to a lesser extent, in some Arabic countries and parts of south-east Asia. There is a growing movement within affected nations, encouraged by the international community, including the United Kingdom, to try and stamp it out, with a target date for eradication of 2010.

Several of the countries in which the practice is prevalent have already introduced legislation to make female genital mutilation illegal. So have a number of developed countries, into which the practice has been introduced as a result of population migration driven by war, internal disturbance, starvation or other causes. These countries include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom. Interestingly, while no prosecutions have been brought in any of those developed countries, prosecutions or arrests have taken place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Egypt, Ghana and Senegal. Further, in France, which has no specific legislation outlawing female genital mutilation, successful prosecutions have been brought under existing Laws prohibiting acts of violence against children.

My first request to the Minister is that she should ensure that good codes of practice are developed and training programmes set up to encourage and enable the police, social services and the judicial system to tackle this kind of violence against children exactly as they would any other form of violence; namely, with the seriousness which it deserves.

Bearing in mind the efforts being made in other parts of the world to change hearts and minds, my second request is for the Minister to tell us when an effective outreach programme will be in place to persuade people in affected communities in this country to abandon this terrible practice. It is a crime against human rights, including the rights of the child, as well as against United Kingdom law.

I am old enough to remember being taught about the terrible practice of foot binding in China. Like female genital mutilation, this was a crime against the rights of the woman and of the child, and a cultural practice undertaken to please men. It was not fully abandoned until the Communist revolution in China. I hope that this Government, along with employees in all the relevant areas of the public services, will now do all in their power to eradicate this practice in our country. That would be the best way to make the Bill as effective as its promoters and supporters would wish.