Author:
Publication: CBS News
Date: August 4, 2007
URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/03/london/main3130654.shtml
Female Genital Mutilation Taking Place In
Britain, Are Police Afraid To Stop It?
Twenty-seven females in the London borough
of Harringey have sought medical treatment after being sexually mutilated.
Down the road in Waltham Forest, more than a thousand women, girls and infants
have experienced female genital mutilation or FGM.
The group Forward campaigns against the practice
and estimates there could be as many as 66,000 women now living in Britain
who've suffered this - either in one of the 28 African countries where it
is still practiced, or here in Britain. It's especially popular in the growing
Somali community.
For a detailed description of what constitutes
female genital mutilation, a visit to the World Health Organization Web site
will enlighten. The WHO estimates, "each year 2 million girls undergo
the procedure, usually performed by a traditional practitioner with crude
instruments and without anesthetic."
The reasons range from religious in some Muslim
communities, to sociological - a woman's coming of age. But, it's also done
to ensure virginity and chastity before marriage and fidelity afterwards.
In London, Scotland Yard is offering a $40,000
reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of anyone carrying
out FGM in Britain, or sending girls abroad for the procedure.
Police say, "this is done without the
girl's consent, without anesthetic, and in some cases instruments such as
tin can tops are used to cut and thorns used to stitch up the victims."
They say this "extreme child abuse is
illegal and won't be tolerated." Yet, it's been illegal since 1985, and
no one has yet been prosecuted for it.
The police campaign kicks off now because
summer is when it happens most frequently. Police say parents and grandparents
are often to blame, convincing the girls they will be receiving a special
gift. But that gift is "extreme pain, shock, infection, hemorrhage, infertility,
incontinence, HIV and death." Some gift.
Detective Inspector Carol Hamilton says, "we
cannot standby while our girls are mutilated. Cultural acceptance," she
insists, "does not include accepting the unacceptable."
Yet, until now, British authorities have turned
a blind eye, perhaps fearing that to intrude would be seen as an attack on
a different culture or faith. You might call this a pretty extreme manifestation
of political correctness. A reader of an online article on FGM wrote,
"the fact that nobody has ever been prosecuted is gross dereliction and
an example of institutional racism."
Not long after the reward was posted, a 36-year-old
woman, suspected of being an FGM practitioner was arrested. If convicted,
she faces up to 14 years in jail. It's a start, but not a very big one, because
where this is happening people are tight-knit, and they aren't talking.
