Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the four noble Baronesses who have spoken before me with such feeling and passion. I thank my noble friend Lady Cox for securing this debate today. She is quite right to focus on the key issue: what are we doing, apart from legislation, to stop this horrible, horrific procedure being carried out in the United Kingdom? Through the work I do with a charity, mostly in Africa, I have seen the results in many of these women. I work with a charity that trains doctors and nurses in Africa to help women who have obstetric fistula. There are 2 million such women. FGM contributes to these women having difficulty in labour and the resulting fistulas. It also contributes to them having a higher incidence of postpartum haemorrhage and to them dying because of it. FGM, therefore, does not just cause horrific suffering: it causes death.

Why, after the series of legislation championed by the noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, have we not had any prosecutions in the United Kingdom? Is it because those who are involved—members of the family, those who carry out this procedure and even the health professionals—do not fear this legislation, or are they ignorant of it, or both? The fact that there have been no prosecutions must make them feel safe. I know that my own college—I am a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians—and other colleges have produced guidance and asked for more policies to stop this procedure being continued in the United Kingdom.

The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, said that we needed a joined-up approach to this; that all the agencies, including the NHS and the child protection agencies, should work together. We now need leadership from the Government, and I hope that the Minister—who I know feels passionately about this—will indicate some new policy measures from the Government to help stop this. Everybody who has spoken and will speak today, and others who have spoken previously in recent weeks when we have had debates and Questions relating to this, have all felt that something must be done in the United Kingdom to stop this horrific process going on. The noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, quite rightly asked that we start that process in 2014. I think that she is being generous: we should start tomorrow.