Action demanded to combat female genital mutilation across Europe

The European Parliament has this week called for concerted action to ban female genital mutilation in the EU, by adopting a new report which also acknowledges the problem in EU immigration law.

Every year approximately 180,000 female emigrants in Europe undergo, or are in danger of undergoing, female genital mutilation (FGM). Although FGM is a violation of women's rights under various international conventions, and is prohibited under the criminal law of Member States, it is difficult to monitor on EU territory as it is carried out behind closed doors.

MEPs have now demanded a clear EU-wide strategy for combating FGM in the form of laws, prevention systems, education and social measures, and wide dissemination of information regarding the existing protection mechanisms available to vulnerable groups.

In a separate development, new policy calling for gender-related persecution, and specifically FGM, to be recognised when assessing claims for asylum in the UK, was unanimously passed this week at the Green Party conference. While the UK Government does recognise threats to women from certain countries, reports have found that persecution based on gender is
frequently overlooked.

Jean Lambert, London's Green Party MEP and a Member of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, said:

"When a woman is at risk of forced female genital mutilation, she faces a serious threat to her physical health and mental well-being. Many women never fully recover from this often violent act, frequently performed against their will.

"Other kinds of abuse against women must also be recognised in assessing asylum claims. Incidences of women suffering severe sexual abuse have failed to be sufficiently investigated by the Government and without the intervention of NGOs and other concerned individuals many women would find themselves in a fast-track system to be returned to their country of origin.

"New policy, which has been adopted by the Green Party, calls for gender-related persecution to be fully recognised and investigated when assessing asylum claims to avoid deporting women to on-going dangerous situations. I welcome this advance in Green Party policy and the recent
developments in the European Parliament."