Female Genital Mutilation - FGM

From the Scottish Government website.

Background

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been unlawful in Scotland since 1985 by virtue of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. The 2005 Act re-enacts the existing offences in the 1985 Act, and extends protection by giving those offences extra-territorial effect in order to protect those being sent abroad to have FGM carried out. The Act also increases the penalty on conviction from indictment to 5-14 years imprisonment.

There is no evidence that this practice is widespread within communities in Scotland, although evidence can be difficult to establish. The policy is to ensure that those communities within the UK who do practice FGM do not believe that they might evade the law by sending girls abroad via Scotland. The law makes it an offence under Scots law to send a girl abroad to have the procedure carried out.

Guidance on the legislation (introduced in 2005), how to enforce it and the signs which may indicate that FGM has taken place, has been issued to all police, social and community, and education workers. Fact sheets on this legislation was created and translated in to Somali, Swahili, Eritrean, French and Arabic in order that communities for whom FGM is a common practice can be made aware of these changes.

Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005

Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) act 2005, explanatory notes

The Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation was introduced to coincide with the 2005 prohibition of FGM act (see link above) and translated into several different languages.

Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation in English

Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation in French

Scottish Government's fact sheet on female genital mutilation in Somali

Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation in Swahili

Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation in Arabic

Scottish Government's fact sheet on Female Genital Mutilation in Tigrina

Member of Scottish Parliament makes plea over family's Dungavel detention

November 19, 2009
By BBC

A Glasgow MSP has written to the UK Immigration Minister to complain about the detention of an asylum seeker and her daughter at Dungavel, Lanarkshire.

Florence and Precious Mhango, 10, from Malawi, were taken to the controversial detention centre after attending a routine immigration meeting.

The mother and daughter, who have been in the UK for more than six years, are due to be deported on Monday.

Anne McLaughlin MSP said the child faced harm if she returned to Malawi.

The SNP politician has written to Phil Woolas urging him to release the family on humanitarian grounds.

She claimed the mother and daughter were likely to be separated on their return to Africa, with Precious being taken to live with her father and at risk of possible female genital mutilation.

The UK Border Agency said the decision to detain a family before removal only happened as a last resort.

Ms McLaughlin said: "This is an extremely distressing case. There is no cause for this detention or deportation.

"This girl has been educated entirely in the UK, she has taken an English name, and knows only Scottish and English culture.

"She is well integrated in Glasgow - doing well in her education, joining the local church and making friends in the community.

She added: "This is not just a case of stopping the detention of a child in Dungavel, it is a case of stopping the deportation of a child to a situation where she may be at risk of harm."

The MSP has also asked the Scottish government to intervene and plead the family's case with the Home Office.

Precious Mhango is a pupil at St Maria Goretti Primary in Glasgow and she and her mother were actively involved in the Cranhilll Community Project.

The family have been held at Dungavel on a previous occasion and during her time there the 10-year-old wrote a short story about her experience, called Detention Day (D-Day).

Community development worker Sam Paterson said: "The story is heartbreaking. One woman who read it this morning was reduced to tears.

"Everyone is shocked and outraged by this.

"Florence and Precious were well-known, very popular and really played an active role in this community."

He added: "I spoke to Florence this morning and she is devastated, but trying to stay calm for her daughter's sake.

"Precious is 10-years-old so she knows what is going on and is scared about what lies ahead."

"Keeping them at Dungavel is like a form of torture."

It is understood the family is due to be moved to another detention centre south of the border over the weekend then flown to Malawi on Monday.

Linda Dempster, deputy director of the UK Border Agency in Scotland and Northern Ireland said: "We would much rather that a family whom our courts have found do not qualify for asylum or for humanitarian protection leave the UK voluntarily.

"Where they refuse to do so, despite being given every opportunity, it is our responsibility to enforce the decisions of the courts and send them home.

"The decision to detain a family before removal only happens as a last resort, because the parents refuse to take the opportunity to go home under their own steam with assistance from the Home Office and the International Organisation for Migration."