Female Genital Mutilation

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Baroness Sugg

Thursday 6th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, we work closely with the Home Office to ensure that people who are fleeing the practice of FGM are very carefully looked after.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

May I take odds with my noble friend on the notion that we cannot do anything about FGM here until we have dealt with it internationally? I do not think that is true at all. The number of convictions that there have been in this country has been minimal, if not non-existent. If we start convicting both the people who have done these surgical operations and the parents who have authorised them, we might be able to stop it here.

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, in order to end FGM, which is what we are all trying to do, we need to tackle it both here in the UK and globally. We have set ourselves the target of ending FGM by 2030; we are making good progress on that, but there is still more to do. My noble friend is right that there have been minimal convictions here in the UK, but we have issued a number of protection orders, which are helping to address the issue.