New Female Genital Mutilation(FGM)Measures Announced in UK

Parents will face prosecution if they fail to stop their daughters undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) under new measures being announced.

Prime Minister David Cameron is unveiling a £1.4m prevention programme aimed at ending the practice at a global summit in London.
It is estimated that up to 137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales could have undergone FGM.

Female Genital Mutilation(FGM)

• Includes "the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons"
• Practised in 29 countries in Africa and some countries in Asia and the Middle East
• An estimated three million girls and women worldwide are at risk each year
• About 125 million victims estimated to be living with the consequences
• It is commonly carried out on young girls, often between infancy and the age of 15
• Often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, to prepare a girl or woman for adulthood and marriage and to ensure "pure femininity"
• Dangers include severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections, infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth
• In December 2012, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling for all member states to ban the practise