Policy for progress: ending FGM and forced marriage
The Home Secretary spoke to attendees at the International Conference on Ending FGM (female genital mutilation) and Forced Marriage.
This weekend, I read some good news about FGM. Now, you might think, quite understandably, that sounds like a contradiction 바카라 사이트“ how can you have good news about FGM?
But I did 바카라 사이트“ at least that바카라 사이트™s what it felt like.
A study published in BMJ Global Health has suggested that rates of female genital mutilation have fallen dramatically in Africa.
It found that the biggest fall in cutting was in East Africa where the study claimed the prevalence rate has dropped from 71% of girls under 14, that was in 1995, to 8% in 2016.
Now there are several hypotheses for why this has happened. One is that it바카라 사이트™s all down to the mums. Lots of money has rightly gone into educating more and more women in Africa.
These educated women are then making different decisions for their own daughters to the decisions that their mothers made for them, but I don바카라 사이트™t think this tells the full story.
I think this apparent decline in FGM 바카라 사이트“ which is reflected in other countries too 바카라 사이트“ is also down to you and other people like you who couldn바카라 사이트™t join us today. People who work tirelessly to end FGM.
It바카라 사이트™s thanks to your work as frontline professionals, as campaigners, as policymakers as experts, that the prevalence of FGM has declined in most countries around the world. It is thanks to you that today a girl is about a third less likely to be cut than 30 years ago.
So I want to start by thanking you for all the work that you do fighting this most barbaric crime.
We also have representatives with us today who are working hard to eliminate another crime which disproportionately affects women 바카라 사이트“ and that바카라 사이트™s forced marriage. I want to extend my welcome to you too.
I know that some of you in the audience have also travelled a very long way to be here: from Canada and Pakistan and Kenya and thank you for taking that very long journey to be with us.
After such a long journey, you바카라 사이트™ll be pleased to hear there바카라 사이트™s going to be a fascinating programme planned for the next 2 days.
You바카라 사이트™re going to hear from a range of people who have been working to tackle FGM and forced marriage across the world, including some survivors.
I want to give particular thanks to:
- Jaha Dukureh
- Hoda Ali
- Sarian Karim-Kamara
- Matt and Zee
I want to thank you for agreeing to share your stories with us all to hear over the next 2 days, because I think being asked to share your knowledge at an event like this is one thing, but being asked to share your experience, is quite another.
Take Jaha for example. She was born in the Gambia in 1989 and was subjected to FGM when she was just one week old. At 15, she was sent to New York and forced to marry a man who was much older than she was. She managed to flee that marriage and later remarried and moved to Atlanta, before returning home to the Gambia in 2018 where she now lives with her 3 children.
She바카라 사이트™s been a campaigner against female genital mutilation and forced marriage since she was a teenager and she is the founder and CEO of Safe Hands for Girls, an NGO which advocates for the end of FGM and forced marriage. And Jaha바카라 사이트™s role was instrumental in convincing President Obama바카라 사이트™s administration to investigate the prevalence and the profile of FGM in the USA and in convincing the Gambian government to outlaw FGM in 2016.
That바카라 사이트™s quite a life story and an amazing CV! You바카라 사이트™ll hear from Jaha very shortly.
And tomorrow you바카라 사이트™ll hear from Zee from the Karma Nirvana Survivor Ambassador Programme. She was born into a traditional Afghan family. She was the youngest of 5 and the only girl. She was promised at birth to another family, and at 13, she was engaged to be married. With a forced marriage looming, she ran away from Bradford and she came to London.
Her family disowned her because she had run away, because she had called the authorities, and because in their eyes they thought and they claimed she had brought shame on the family. Now Zee campaigns so that no-one else has to face what she had to go through.
I would also like to take the opportunity today to pay tribute to Nimko Ali, an FGM survivor and tireless campaigner who I바카라 사이트™ve had the privilege to meet a number of times.
I won바카라 사이트™t speak for too long because I think it바카라 사이트™s important that you hear from these campaigners next, but I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you briefly about what the UK government is doing to tackle FGM and forced marriage.
Because I believe that all governments should take interest in this and they have a crucial role to play in bringing an end to what can only be described as medieval practices.
These crimes in my view are despicable, inhumane and uncivilised. They should not be dressed up as 바카라 사이트˜culture바카라 사이트™, 바카라 사이트˜tradition바카라 사이트™ or some kind of 바카라 사이트˜private family business바카라 사이트™ - because they are none of these things.
I바카라 사이트™m pleased to say that here in the UK, we already have some of the toughest laws in the world against these crimes. We바카라 사이트™ve made it an offence to fail to protect a girl from FGM; we introduced FGM Protection Orders; we created a mandatory reporting duty requiring specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in children to the police; and we바카라 사이트™re funding the national FGM Centre.
On forced marriage, we바카라 사이트™re taking action too.
This is the first UK government to make forced marriage a criminal offence and I바카라 사이트™ve been encouraged by recent convictions.
For example, you might have heard or remember there was a conviction earlier this year after a victim was rescued by the British High Commission in Bangladesh. We also run a highly successful forced marriage public helpline which I think is making a real difference to people바카라 사이트™s lives.
The support offered ranges from providing information and guidance about forced marriage right through to organising repatriation and rescue missions.
Last year, the Forced Marriage Unit handled nearly 1,200 possible cases of forced marriage. And just last month I announced that when women have the courage to come forward and inform the Home Office they are being forced to sponsor a spousal visa against their will, we will not only protect their anonymity, but we will do everything we can to revoke that visa.
Our efforts, of course, extend overseas too. I know that we work with many of the organisations that some of you represent here today.
Recognising that FGM and forced marriage are international issues and this is very much integral to the way we approach this.
We know that people in the UK 바카라 사이트“ particularly children and young people 바카라 사이트“ are at risk of being taken overseas and forced into marriage or subjected to FGM.
To safeguard against those at risk, for example, we have a rolling programme of joint operations by the police and the Home Office바카라 사이트™s Border Force, that takes place at our airports during school holidays.
These joint operations target inbound and outbound flights to and from these high-prevalence countries to try and stop these crimes.
Our efforts to tackle both FGM and forced marriage have starting paying off.
There바카라 사이트™s now a greater understanding of these crimes than ever before and more people than ever before are being protected.
Over 1,600 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been granted and 248 FGM Protection Orders.
Despite all of this we also understand we need to do more. Stories like Jaha바카라 사이트™s and Zee바카라 사이트™s are a reminder of that. These horrific crimes are still happening, and perpetrators are still slipping though the net without being brought to justice.
I do think it바카라 사이트™s time for us in the UK to redouble our efforts.
That바카라 사이트™s why today I바카라 사이트™m pleased to announce that I바카라 사이트™m launching a public consultation on how we can strengthen the safeguarding response to forced marriage.
One of the questions we will be asking is whether we should introduce a new mandatory duty requiring professionals to report cases of forced marriage to the authorities.
I바카라 사이트™m also pleased to announce following the successful FGM communication campaign that we launched last week that today I바카라 사이트™m unveiling a new government communications campaign to educate the public about what constitutes a forced marriage and the fact it바카라 사이트™s illegal.
Here are 2 of the posters. I would also like to show you a sneak 30-second peek of our campaign video. I think having these videos and using them on all sorts of platforms including social media will really make a difference. But we know government action alone is not going to be enough. We need your help to raise awareness across the UK and around the world. We need you to provide services for survivors and victims and we need you to help us bring more perpetrators to justice.
This conference is a great opportunity for all of us to share knowledge, experience, ideas and best practice with one another.
Over the next 2 days, you바카라 사이트™ll hear from survivors, from community groups, from young people and from professionals, both here in the UK and from the world.
I바카라 사이트™m clear that by working together, we can end these appalling crimes and build a much safer world for our children 바카라 사이트“ and in particular 바카라 사이트“ for our daughters.
Thank you very much