Female genital mutilation: the law in England and Wales viewed from a human rights perspective

ABSTRACT

Female Genital Mutilation has been described by the U.N. as a ‘critical human rights issue’ and as a consequence, several jurisdictions, including England and Wales, have enacted specific legislation to combat the practice. This paper considers FGM from a human rights standpoint and analyses the law in England and Wales in the light of this. Although arguments have been presented to support the continuance of the practice, the opposing arguments are more compelling, particularly in relation to child victims. The law in England and Wales reflects this perspective, adopting a strong universalist human rights approach to FGM. The stance initially taken i.e. to criminalise FGM, was criticised because the law was not utilised and in response, civil protection measures were introduced. This paper concludes that the latter have been more useful than the criminal provisions and impact private and family life to a lesser degree than other civil law alternatives. But whether they will continue to be effective, following the Court of Appeal judgment in Re X which set aside a global travel ban because it violated the right to private and family life and had not been fully justified, remains to be seen.

KEYWORDS:

• FGM
• human rights
• English Welsh Law

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ruth Gaffney-Rhys is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of South Wales, where she has been teaching for over twenty years. Ruth specialises in Family Law, focusing on issues with a human rights dimension, such as FGM, forced marriage and child marriage.

Notes

1 WHO, Female Genital Mutilation Fact Sheet (2018), https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation (accessed January 31, 2018).

2 United Nations, Eliminating FGM – An Interagency Statement (2008), 21, https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw52/statements_missions/Interagency_Statement_on_Eliminating_FGM.pdf.

3 [3] UNICEF, Female Genital Mutilation (2018), https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation/.

4 N2

5 UNICEF, Female Genital Mutilation Country Profiles (2019), https://data.unicef.org/resources/fgm-country-profiles/.

6 N2.

7 Ministry of Justice, Consultation – Female Genital Mutilation: Proposal to Introduce a Civil Protection Order (2014), 5.

8 S. Gordon, ‘Reconciling Female Genital Circumcision with Universal Human Rights’, Developing World Bioethics (2017): 1–11, 1.

9 Home Office, Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts (2015).

10 FORWARD, Female Genital Mutilation: Frequently Asked Questions: A Campaigner’s Guide for Young People (London: Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development, 2012) and M. El-Safty, ‘Women in Egypt: Islamic Rights Versus Cultural Practice’, Sex Roles 51, no. 5/6 (2004): 273–28.

11 L.J. Kouba and J. Muasher, ‘Female Circumcision in Africa: An Overview’, African Studies Review 28, no. 1 (1985): 1031–48, 104.

12 See FORWARD (n10) and A. Slack, ‘Female circumcision: A Critical Appraisal’, Human Rights Quarterly 10, no. 4 (1988): 437–86.

13 See FORWARD (n10).

14 See A. Talle, ‘Transforming Women into “Pure” Agnates: Aspects of Female Infibulation in Somalia’, in Carved Flesh, Cast Selves: Gender Symbols and Social Practices, ed. V. Broch-Due, I. Rduie, and T. Bleie (Oxford: Berg, 1993), 83–106 and R.E.B. Johansen, ‘Experiencing Sex in Exile – Can Genitals Change their Gender?’, in Transcultural Bodies: Female Genital Cutting in Global Context, ed. Y. Herlund and B. Shell-Duncan (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2007).

15 N1.

16 R.M. Abusharaf, Rethinking Feminist Discourse on Female Genital Mutilation (1995), https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/9465/8582.

17 Ibid.

18 H.D. Kalev, ‘Cultural Rights or Human Rights: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation’, Sex Roles 51, no. 5/6 (2004): 339–48, 347.

19 Ibid.

20 N. Toubia, Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action (Rainbo, 1995), 37.

21 College of Policing, Authorised Professional Practice Guidance on Female Genital Mutilation, https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/major-investigation-and-public-protection/female-genital-mutilation/ (accessed May 5, 2019).

22 B. Hehir, The Emperor’s New ClothesThe Dangers of the Anti-FGM Campaign (Battle of Ideas, 2014), www.battleofideas.org.uk/BiP_2014/BiP_FGM_Brid_Hehi.pdf.

23 K. Green and H. Lim, ‘What is this Thing about Female Circumcision? Legal Education and Human Rights’, Social and Legal Studies 7, no. 3 (1998): 368, 369.

24 H. Harris, The Somali Community in the UK. What We Know and How We Know It (Information Centre About Asylum Refugees in the UK (ICAR), 2004), http://icar/somaliacommunityreport.pdf and A. Gele et al., ‘Attitudes towards Female Circumcision among Somali Immigrants in Oslo: A Qualitative Study’, International Journal of Women’s Health 2012, no. 4 (2012): 7–17.

25 N1 and FORWARD (N10).

26 WHO, Study Group on Female Genital Mutilation and Obstetric Outcome (2006), 11.

27 N2, 1.

28 L. Wade, ‘Learning from “Female Genital Mutilation”: Lessons from 30 Years of Academic Discourse’, Ethnicities 12, no. 1 (2011): 26–49. F. Ahmadu, ‘Rites and Wrings: An Insider/Outsider Reflects on Power and Excision’, in Female Circumcision in Africa: Culture, Controversy and Change, ed. B. Shell-Duncan and Y. Hernlund (London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000) and C. Kratz, Affecting Performance: meaning, Movement and Experience in Okiek Women’s Initiation (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994).

29 N23, 369.

30 CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 14: Female Circumcision, 1990, A/45/38.

31 F. Hosken, ‘Female Circumcision and Fertility in Africa’, Women and Health 1, no. 6 (1976): 3–11; M. Assad, ‘Female Circumcision in Egypt: Social Implications, Current Research and Prospects for Change’, Studies in Family Planning 11, no. 1 (1980): 31–36; T. Levin, ‘Unspeakable Atrocities: The Psycho-sexual Etiology of Female Genital Mutilation’, The Journal of Mind and Behaviour 1, no. 2 (1980): 197–210.

32 WHO. FGM: A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement (1997).

33 United Nations, General Assembly Resolution 67/146 on intensifying efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilation implores state parties to enact and enforce legislation prohibiting FGM, 2013.

34 Council of Europe, Parliamentary Resolution 1247 Female Genital Mutilation, 2001.

35 European Parliamentary, ‘Resolution Towards the elimination of female genital mutilation’ (2004), (2014/2511)

36 The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in African, 2003, Article 5.

37 The Inter-Parliamentary Union African Parliamentary Conference, 2005.

38 N2.

39 A. Slack, ‘Female Circumcision: A Critical Appraisal’,Human Rights Quarterly 10, no. 4 (1988): 437–86, 466.

40 CEDAW, General Recommendation No.19: Violence Against Women (1992), A/47/38.

41 United Nations, General Assembly Declaration 48/104 on the Elimination of Violence Against Women 1993.

42 Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, European Union, 2012.

43 Ibid., Recital 17.

44 The Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, Council of Europe, 2011, Article 38.

45 N2.

46 CEDAW/CRC, Joint General Recommendation / General Comment No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Harmful Practices. CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18, 2014.

47 See F. Hosken, ‘Female Genital Mutilation and Human Rights’, Feminist Issues (1981, Summer): 3–25; O. Koso-Thomas, The Circumcision of Women: A Strategy for Eradication (London: Zed Books, 1997); S. Okin, ‘Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?’, in ed. J. Cohen and M. Howard (Princeton University Press, 1999) and A. Thiam, ‘Women’s Fight for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation’, International Social Science Journal 35, no. 4 (1998): 7475–76.

48 N28, 37.

49 N18, 347

50 N2.

51 N34.

52 N2.

53 See Slack (n39) and E. Ebah, Female genital Mutilation (FGM): A Deadly Degrading Painful Practice (UK: Divine Spark Publications, 2015).

54 N8.

55 Wade (n28, 28) cites C. Kratz, Affecting Performance: Meaning, Movement and Experience in Okiek Women’s Initiation (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994) and B. Shell-Duncan et al., ‘Legislating Change? Responses to Criminalizing Female Genital Cutting in Senegal’, Law and Society Review 47, no. 4 (2013): 803–35.

56 Article 6.

57 Article 16.

58 Article 24.

59 Article 37.

60 E.g. D.L. DeLaet, ‘Genital Autonomy, Children’s Rights and Competing Rights Claims in International Human Rights Law and Gordon, J.S. 2015. Human Rights and Cultural Identity’, Baltic Journal of Law and Politics 8, no. 2 (2012): 112–35.

61 E.g. K.S. Arora and A.J. Jacobs, ‘Female Genital Alteration: A Compromise Solution’, Journal of Medical Ethics 42, no. 3 (2016): 148–54.

62 CEDAW, Concluding Observations on the seventh periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 2013. CEDAW/C/GBR/CO/7 Para 36.

63 J.S. Gordon, ‘Human Rights and Cultural Identity’, Baltic Journal of Law and Politics 8, no. 2 (2015): 112–35, 116.

64 Article 12.

65 Article 17.

66 N. Bamforth, ‘Same-Sex Partnerships and Arguments of Justice’, in Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships – A Study of National, European and International Law, ed. R. Wintemute and M. Andenaes (Hart, 2001).

67 Ibid.

68 K. Hollingsworth, ‘Theorising Children’s Rights in Youth Justice: The Significance of Autonomy and Foundational Rights’, Modern Law Review 76, no. 6 (2013): 1046–69, 1049.

69 Ibid., 1052.

70 M. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capability Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2000).

71 G. Besera and A. Roes, International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics 126 (2014): 235–9, 236.

72 D.T. Meyers, ‘Feminism and Women’s Autonomy: The Challenge of Female Genital Cutting’, Metaphilosophy 31, no. 5: (2000): 469–91, 470.

73 Ibid., 474.

74 N8.

75 N72, 477.

76 P. Benson, ‘Autonomy and Oppressive Socialization’, Social Theory and Practice 17, no. 3 (1991): 385–408, 385.

77 N72, 469.

78 D.L. DeLaet, ‘Genital Autonomy’, Children’s Rights and Competing Rights Claims in International Human Rights Law 556 (2012).

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid., 560.

81 Ibid.

82 S.B. Jungari, ‘Female Genital Mutilation is a Violation of Reproductive Rights of Women: Implications for Health Workers’,Health and Social Work 41, no. 1 (2016): 25–31, 28.

83 N63, 130.

84 Ibid., 131.

85 Article 5.

86 Article 12.

87 Article 14.

88 Article 16.

89 Meyers 475.

90 N2, 10.

91 N63, 130.

92 N. Toubia, ‘Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action’, Rainbo 37 (1995).

93 N63, 120.

94 Ibid., 117.

95 Ibid.

96 T.A. Christou and S. Fowles, ‘Failure to Protect Girls from Female Genital Mutilation’, The Journal of Criminal Law 79, no. 5 (2015): 344–57, 346.

97 Ibid.

98 N78, 567.

99 Ibid., 562.

100 Article 18(3) United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 repeated in article 14(3) United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

101 W. Kymlicka, ‘Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights’, in The rights of minority cultures, ed. W. Kymlicka (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

102 N49, 341.

103 S. Poulter, English Criminal Law and Ethnic Minority Customs (London, Butterworths, 1986), 593.

104 S. Okin, ‘Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?’, in ed. J. Cohen and M. Howard (Princeton University Press, 1999).

105 F. Hosken, ‘Female Genital Mutilation and Human Rights’, Feminist Issues Summer (1981): 3–25.

106 N8, 5.

107 N49, 341.

108 Ibid., 342.

109 Ibid.

110 Ibid.

111 N8, 5.

112 N49, 342.

113 J. Donnelly, ‘Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights’, Human Rights Quarterly no. 4 (1984): 400–19, 400.

114 Y. Ghai, ‘Universal Rights and Cultural Pluralism: Universalism and Relativism: Human Rights as a Framework for Negotiating Interethnic Claims’, Cardozo Law Review 21 (2000): 1095.

115 N113, 400.

116 Ibid.

117 See Wade (N28, 28).

118 F. De Varennes, ‘The Fallacies in the Universalism versus Cultural Relativism Debate in Human Rights Law’, Asia Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law 1 (2006): 67–84, 67.

119 Ibid., 68–70.

120 Ibid., 71.

121 N113, 402.

122 Ibid., 403.

123 N114, 2.

124 N113, 400.

125 Ibid., 401.

126 Ibid.

127 Ibid., 404.

128 K.S. Arora and A.J. Jacobs, ‘Female Genital Alteration: A Compromise Solution’, Journal of Medical Ethics 42, no. 3 (2016): 148–54.

129 N113, 401.

130 N63, 127.

131 Ibid., 129.

132 N113, 401.

133 N118, 78.

134 N63, 5.

135 Ibid.

136 Ibid.

137 Hansard, House of Commons Debates. 29th January 2015. Vol. 591, 2015.

138 R. Macklin, ‘Not All Cultural Traditions Deserve Respect’, Journal of Medical Ethics 42, no. 3 (2016): 155, 155.

139 Ibid.

140 Hansard, House of Lords Debates. 23rd January 1984. Vol. 447, 1984, column 81 and 1985. House of Lords Debates. 15th May 1985. Vol. 463 column 1241.

141 Hansard, House of Lords Debates. 23rd January 1984. Vol. 447, column 79, 1984.

142 Ibid., col 83.

143 See R. Gaffney-Rhys, ‘From the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 to the Serious Crime Act 2015’, The Development of the Law Relating to Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales 39, no. 4 (2017): 417–34.

144 Female Circumcision Act 1985 s.1(2)(b).

145 K. Hayter, ‘Female Circumcision – Is there a Legal Solution?’, Journal of Social Welfare Law 6, no. 6 (1984): 323–33, 330.

146 Hansard, House of Commons Debates. 21st March 2003. Vol. 401, column 1188, 2003.

147 Hansard, House of Lords Debates. 12th September 2003. Vol. 652, column 640, 2003.

148 Hansard, House of Commons Debate. 21st March 2003. Vol. 401, column 1190, 2003.

149 N87, 570.

150 Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, s.5.

151 R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19.

152 BBC NEWS. 2019. FGM: Mother guilty of genital mutilation of daughter. 1/2/19, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47094707.

153 Inserted by s.71 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. This brings the law in line with the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

154 Inserted by s.74 of the Serious Crime Act 2014.

155 J. Bindel, An Unpunished Crime: The Lack of Prosecutions for Female Genital Mutilation in the UK (London: The New Culture Forum, 2014), 32.

156 HM Government, Multi-Agency Statutory Guidance on Female Genital Mutilation (2016), 49.

157 Now contained in s.3A of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.

158 Bar Human Rights Committee, Report of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Female Genital Mutilation, 2014, http://www.barhumanrights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FGM-report.pdf, 11–12.

159 Keith Vaz (Hansard),House of Commons Debates. 29th January 2015. Vol. 591, Column 346, 2015.

160 Hansard, House of Lords Debates. 15th May 1985. Vol. 463, Column 1227, 1985.

161 N103, 596.

162 B. Essen and S. Johnsdotter, ‘Female Genital Mutilation in the West: Traditional Circumcision versus Genital Cosmetic Surgery’, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 83 (2004): 611–3, 611.

163 Ibid.

164 N145, 326.

165 As discussed by Meyers (n72) and DeLaet (n78).

166 N78, 570.

167 But also polygamy and child marriage.

168 A. McFarlane and E. Dorkenoo, Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales: Updated Statistical Estimates of the Numbers of Affected Women Living in England and Wales and Girls at Risk. Interim Report on Provisional Estimates (City of London University, 2014), 8.

169 N158, 7.

170 N143.

171 Re B and G (Children) (No 2) [2015] 1 FLR 905, Para 73.

172 J. Hayes, ‘Protecting Child Victims of Female Genital Mutilation’, Family Law, 239 (2015).

173 Both of which are now available under the Family Law Act 1996.

174 Home Office, Cross Government Definition of Domestic Violence – A Consultation, 2011.

175 CEDAW, General Recommendation No.19: Violence Against Women. A/47/38, 1992.

176 United Nations, General Assembly Declaration 48/104 on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 1993.

177 The Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, Council of Europe, 2011.

178 The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, Schedule 2, Para 1(1).

179 Re Z. (A Child)(Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order: Prevalence of FGM) [2017] EWHC 3566 (Fam)

180 UNICEF, Female Genital Mutilation Country Profiles, 2019. https://data.unicef.org/resources/fgm-country-profiles/ (accessed March 1, 2019).

181 N178, Para 2(2).

182 Ministry of Justice. Family Court Statistics Quarterly, 2018.

183 N178, Para 2(2).

184 N182.

185 See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/female-genital-mutilation-resource-pack/female-genital-mutilation-resource-pack for resources available (accessed May 5, 2019).

186 A local Authority v M and N [2018] EWHC 870.

187 N182.

188 N178, Para 2(3).

189 N179, Para 61.

190 N178, Para 1(2). This replicates s.42(5) and 63A(2) of the Family Law Act 1996, which apply to non-molestation order and forced marriage protection orders respectively.

191 N179, Para 57.

192 N186, para 36.

193 N178, Para 1(3).

194 Ibid., Para 1(4)(a).

195 Ibid., Para 1(4)(b).

196 Ibid., Para 1(6).

197 The Children Act 1989, S33(3).

198 N186, Para 41.

199 Ibid.

200 Re X (A Child)(FGMPO) [2018] EWCA Civ 1825.

201 Ibid.

202 N178, Para 4(5).