A London court has sentenced a woman to eleven years in prison for mutilating the genitals of her three-year-old daughter. The 37-year-old Ugandan immigrant became the first person in the UK to be convicted of female genital mutilation (FGM) since the practice was criminalized three decades ago.
Every year thousands of such cases go unreported in the UK. The policy of multiculturalism prevents the police and social services from taking action against the perpetrators of FGM, mostly individuals of African and Middle Eastern origin. To avoid charges of racism, the long-established British laws go unenforced when it comes to protecting women and girls living in immigrant communities.
In the wake of mass migration from North Africa and the Middle East, the primitive practice has reached epidemic proportions in the UK. According to official figures, cases of FGM doubled last year: some 1,960 new cases were reported in 2018, compared to 970 the previous year. The incidents of FGM remains highly “under-reported” and the government statistics “do not reflect the true prevalence of the hidden crimes,” the Independent noted. There might be 137,000 victims of this dastardly practice, unofficial estimates claim.
EuroNews reported the London court’s judgement:
A woman has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM), becoming the first person in Britain to be convicted of the crime.The 37-year-old mother from Uganda had her daughter cut at their home in London but subsequently called 999 when she started to bleed heavily.Police were called to investigate after hospital staff did not believe the mother’s story that her daughter had fallen off a kitchen worktop.The woman was convicted of FGM offences in February – the first time this has happened for a case like this in the UK, since the practice was criminalised in 1985.Following the incident, which happened in August 2017, the victim had to undergo emergency surgery.
The epidemic of female genital mutilation is not limited to Britain alone. The high rates of unregulated immigration have established the practice in Germany and France as well.
An “Estimated 500,000 women and girls in the EU have suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) and each year 180,000 are at risk of going through the practice each year,” Berlin-based feminist group Terre de Femmes says. There are around 65,000 female survivors of genital mutation living in Germany, state-run DW News estimates.
The problem is not limited to FGM alone, Germany is struggling with the phenomenon of child brides as well. Official German statistics put the number of married children in Germany at around 1,500, of whom at least 360 are under the age of 14, a rising trend thanks to the country’s growing Arab and Muslim population.
To appease Germany’s migrant communities, Justice Minister Heiko Maas even presented plans to legalize child marriages in 2016. According to the proposed law, “if neither the child nor the Child Welfare Service files a complaint, the marriage would be declared legitimate for all practical purposes,” German newspaper Bild explained. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government only backed away from the plans after huge public outcry over the legislation.
The fact that it took the UK authorities more than 30 years to enforce the anti-FGM law shows unwillingness of the establishment to act against perpetrators from immigrant communities. In today’s Europe appeasing ethnic minorities is more important than the rights and safety of helpless women and girls.
[Cover image via YouTube]
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