The Committee requested evidence in relation to a range of issues considered honour-based abuse, in Autumn 2022 including female circumcision, or FGM. They wished to understand more about the nature and prevalence of this kind of abuse, and the value of service and policy responses to these, issues with which the work of the BFCRG has directly engaged. Read the BFCRG submission.

The principle response and recommendation of the BFCRG was that:

Policy approaches to Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) are currently focused on responding to risk established using inappropriate data and methods. Policies should be refocused towards the care and support of those living with consequences of the practice.

Summary of our key points

• The data available with which to establish:
  1. the prevalence of FC;
  2. the characteristics and of women affected;
  3. the level of risk to girls and young women in the UK, is both sparse and problematic. However, there is evidence to suggest that the risk; of FC to girls living in the UK is much lower than is often assumed.
• While there are a sizeable number of women living with the consequences of FC in the UK, as a practice FC is not generally being upheld following migration, indicating less risk to subsequent generations than the current policy supposes.
• Current policy encourages a hyper-vigilant approach from police and organisations with safeguarding responsibilities which has resulted in negative consequences for affected families, and especially for women who are living with FC .
• Legislative responses to FC have not been subject to empirical research. Before any further legal changes are made, it is imperative to ascertain how current legal remedies are being used, what impact they are having, and whether they are effective in protecting girls at risk of FC and preventing harm.
• Whilst FGM-safeguarding experiences have made communities distrustful of state organisations, there are additional challenges for statutory services supporting women with experiences of FC and their families. These are a) dedicated services are not always well-known about in affected communities and b) they are perceived to be reliant on ‘Western’ therapeutic models which are considered culturally inappropriate. The challenges for NGO and community-led services supporting women living with the consequences of FC are that they are inconsistently funded and/or under-funded.