female genital mutilation: isn't child protection for all children?

"Cultural sensitivity" isn’t a favourite phrase of French lawyer and FGM campaigner Linda Weil-Curiel (right), who prosecuted former female genital mutilator Howa Gréou after neighbours heard children screaming in her flat. Gréou found some sort of redemption in prison, and now herself campaigns against mutilation alongside Weil-Curiel.

Whether prison might similarly redeem practitioners in the UK is unknown, because there’s been no prosecutions here. 10,000 Somalis have relocated here from the Netherlands because our Establishment will not extend child protection to all children.

On Newsnight, Omar Ahmed of the Council of Somali Associations said FGM affects a "minute proportion" of the community; he was immediately challenged by Dr Comfort Momoh (left) and by girls from Integrate Bristol, whose prize-winning film The Silent Scream [see resources, below] challenges FGM. Following the film’s release their community turned against them – Bristol has an imam who advocates FGM.

Gavin Esler, interrogating equalities minister Lynne Featherstone, replied to her objections over difficulties getting witnesses to testify by reminding her that the same concerns were once voiced regarding rape.

In France, doctors intimately examine young girls every year for FGM. When Featherstone condemn this as abusive, she confirms our system of apartheid regarding children’s rights when the children are from diverse communities.

Groups such as Integrate Bristol show the determination of people seeking a new life to remake the old. I hope that in the future integrationists and patriot groups will forge a Great Britain where all have the same rights under one law, and avoid "the racism of the respectable", where "The CPS will defend women’s rights, but only the rights of white women. Girls with black or brown skins can go hang — or rather go have their genitalia cut to pieces."

I prefer a girl from Integrate Bristol’s analysis: David Cameron should "grow a pair and challenge FGM".

Gerry Dorrian 300 words

Resources

Sign the HM Government e-Petition to stop Female Genital Mutilation in Britain

Woman's Hour, Radio 4, 24/7/12 - Jane Garvey talks to Sue Lloyd Roberts from Newsnight and Dr Comfort Momoh MBE of Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

Newsnight, 23/7/12 - first of a 2-part report into FGM, including interviews with girls from Integrate Bristol (Starts at 13:00).

Newsnight 24/7/12 - starts with a film examining FGM in France, the Netherlands and the UK, then a panel discussion - highly recommended.

Watch The Silent Scream on YouTube or below:

Go to the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003