FGM offenders have escaped justice ‘for too long’, deputy mayor of London Sophie Linden says

London’s deputy mayor for policing today warned that people who inflict female genital mutilation on girls had escaped justice “for too long”, as she stepped up pressure for new prosecutions over the “abhorrent” crime.

Sophie Linden said that a “lack of understanding among frontline professionals and inconsistencies in the way these crimes are recorded” had allowed perpetrators to avoid charges, despite genital mutilation being a “widespread” problem.

She said the situation “has to change” and vowed that City Hall would work to spread the message that FGM was illegal and unacceptable.

Ms Linden’s comments came as campaigners staged an international day of “zero tolerance” against female genital mutilation. Events included a protest outside Ealing town hall over the closure next month of the Acton African Well Woman Centre, which has given 500 women FGM reversal procedures and offered psychological support to hundreds of others since opening in 2007.

The centre is shutting because of a decision to stop providing advocacy and midwife services there in a move which campaigners say is a betrayal of vulnerable women.

In her comments today, Ms Linden focused on the failure to secure any convictions for FGM, despite the practice being illegal in Britain since 1985 and a series of subsequent legislative changes designed to make it easier to bring prosecutions.

Ms Linden said that FGM was “an abhorrent practice” and “a widespread issue with thousands of girls at risk”, and that she and Mayor Sadiq Khan were “committed to tackling it as part of our work to drive down violence against women and girls”.

However, she added: “For too long, there has been a lack of understanding among frontline professionals and inconsistencies in the way these crimes are recorded, meaning that people are not being prosecuted for these barbaric practices. This has to change.

“We are working with a range of partners, including the police, schools, health services and local communities to spread the message that this is an illegal, unacceptable practice.”

Ms Linden said that City Hall had also spent £250,000 on a pilot scheme across five boroughs, in which specialist training has been provided to frontline workers who help women who are either at risk of, or have experienced, harmful practices such as FGM.

Meanwhile, in a further development today, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Freedom charity began a campaign of selling red triangle badges to raise awareness among people that FGM is a crime. The proceeds will be used to supply books about FGM to schools.

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