The baby daughter of a west African diplomat based in London has been given special protection after concerns were raised that she could be subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).
Southwark council, which applied for an FGM protection order, is now requesting that government look into waiving diplomatic immunity in the case.
Mr Justice Keehan analysed preliminary issues at a hearing at the family division of the royal courts of justice on Monday. He made the baby a ward of court and issued her with an FGM protection order, designed to safeguard young girls at risk of the practice. The judge is due to hear more evidence next month.
Neither the baby girl, who is less than a year old, nor her parents could be identified in the case because of a legal order.
The court heard that the infant’s mother had raised concerns.
Zimran Samuel, acting for the council, told the judge the girl’s mother had been subjected to FGM herself as a child and that she feared family members would take the baby abroad to be cut. Samuel said the woman feared the child’s father would “fail” to prevent it.
The mother was “very anxious and worried”, Samuel said.
The father, whose status as a diplomat means he is free from prosecution, insisted that he posed no risk to his daughter and that he abhorred the practice. “I have absolutely nothing to do with this,” he said. “I would emphasise that I have absolutely no intention of taking the child anywhere. I love my daughter.”
FGM is a procedure that partially or completely removes the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The protection orders came into force last July, part of a series of measures introduced by the government aimed at stopping the practice.
An estimated 137,000 women and girls have undergone FGM or are at risk of being subjected to it in England and Wales, where it is illegal, though there is some debate about the exact numbers. The practice can cause infection, problems in childbirth and death.
The order can involve revocation of a child’s passport and imposition of travel restrictions and a child’s access to certain family members can also be blocked. Breaching such an order is a criminal offence.