Excerpt:
A private member's bill presented by Labour MP Chris Fearne seeks the criminalisation of female genital mutilation in Malta or on Maltese residents abroad.
The bill's purpose is to make a provision for the offence of genital mutilation, forced sterilization and forced marriage, when it is carried out on women who are in Malta or have residence in Malta even if they are not in the country.
Addressing the press, Fearne said that whoever performs FGM should be liable to punishment of imprisonment, whether the act is carried out in Malta, irrespective of the girl's nationality, if it is carried out by a foreigner on a Maltese resident and if a Maltese resident is taken abroad for the intervention.