Parents will face prosecution if they fail to stop their daughters undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) under new measures being announced.
Prime Minister David Cameron is unveiling a ?1.4m prevention programme aimed at ending the practice at a global summit in London.
It is estimated that up to 137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales could have undergone FGM.
The Girl Summit will also look at ways to end forced marriage.
Hosted by the UK government and children’s charity Unicef, the summit will be attended by international politicians, campaigners including the Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, and women who have undergone FGM.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Cameron said: “All girls have the right to live free from violence and coercion, without being forced into marriage or the lifelong physical and psychological effects of female genital mutilation.
“Abhorrent practices like these, no matter how deeply rooted in societies, violate the rights of girls and women across the world, including here in the UK.”
‘Big challenge’
The FGM prevention programme will see the NHS working with girls affected by the practice.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of UN Women, said the situation is improving but many girls remain at risk.
She said: “There’s traction and more people that are willing to take a stand, but not enough yet.
“The fact that 30 million girls are at risk of being cut in the coming years clearly means that we have a big challenge on our hands.”
Priscilla Karim, who was forced to undergo FGM in Sierra Leone aged nine, described her ordeal.
She said: “I felt the worst pain of my life and a heavy object sitting on my chest and I just passed out.
“It’s like a taboo, they don’t tell you about it. You cannot tell anybody.
“I grew up with the fear that if I say to anyone, I was going to die because that was what they made me believe – that whatever happens there is kind of a secret.”
Female genital mutilation
- Includes “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons”
- Practised in 29 countries in Africa and some countries in Asia and the Middle East
- An estimated three million girls and women worldwide are at risk each year
- About 125 million victims estimated to be living with the consequences
- It is commonly carried out on young girls, often between infancy and the age of 15
- Often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, to prepare a girl or woman for adulthood and marriage and to ensure “pure femininity”
- Dangers include severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections, infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth
- In December 2012, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling for all member states to ban the practise
Source:?World Health Organization
