As many as 2,000 British schoolgirls will be genitally mutilated on behalf of family members during the summer holidays, the Observer has claimed.
An article in the newspaper said that some young women would be taken abroad to be circumcised, while others would be "cut" and sewn closed at "cutting parties" within the UK, often by women flown in from Somalia and Sudan, where the practice is common.
The fear of social exclusion in one's community is a powerful motivating factor in convincing girls to go ahead with the procedure, experts say, with mothers thinking they are acting in the interests of their daughter. Few, however, have any idea of the medical risks involved.
Comfort Momoh, who works at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, in one of the 16 clinics in the country who deal with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and its repercussions, told the Observer that as well as risking death from blood loss and infection, the procedure makes periods incredibly painful and is linked to infertility.
"There is no hard evidence about what is happening in the UK because it's a hush-hush thing. It's only now that a few people are beginning to talk about it, which is good because change will only come from within," Momoh said.
Two separate Acts of Parliament have outlawed FGM on British citizens at home and abroad, with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. To date, no prosecutions have been made.
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