4 Female genital mutilation
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; for debate in European Committee B
|
| Document details | Commission Communication: Towards the elimination of female genital mutilation
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Department
Document numbers
| Home Office
(35614); 17228/13; COM(13) 833
|
Summary and Committee's conclusions
4.1 The Commission Communication, published in November
2013, describes the action already taken by the EU to combat female
genital mutilation (FGM) and proposes a series of further (non-legislative)
actions to:
· ensure a better understanding of the prevalence
of FGM within the EU;
· promote sustainable change to prevent
FGM;
· support more effective prosecution of
FGM;
· provide protection for girls or women
at risk of FGM; and
· contribute to the worldwide elimination
of FGM.
4.2 The Communication draws on the findings of a
report published in 2013 by the European Institute for Gender
Equality (EIGE) which highlighted the absence of reliable and
comparable data on the prevalence of FGM within the EU, as well
as inadequate monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of
legislative and policy measures to tackle FGM, and called for
better specialist support services and professional training,
multi-agency cooperation, sustainable funding, and enforcement
of existing laws to avoid impunity.[23]
4.3 The Government set out in some detail the action
being taken domestically to eliminate FGM as part of a broader
UK Action Plan to end violence against women and girls and indicated
that many of the objectives and actions proposed in the Communication
could be sufficiently achieved by Member States alone. The Government
acknowledged, however, that action to encourage more effective
sharing of best practice, as well as EU funding initiatives and
better monitoring of the transposition of relevant EU legislation,
could add more value when taken at EU level "due to the scale
and effects achieved".[24]
4.4 We noted the synergies between many of the actions
proposed in the Communication and measures being taken domestically
to combat FGM — in some cases supported by EU funding. We
agreed with the Government that, in tackling FGM within the EU,
the Commission should focus its efforts on facilitating the exchange
of information on the most effective policy approaches and legal
frameworks to prevent FGM, protect those at risk, and prosecute
the perpetrators.
4.5 We last considered the Communication more than
a year ago, at our meeting on 26 February 2014. We noted that
the Justice and Home Affairs Council was expected to agree Conclusions
on violence against women and girls in June 2014. We asked the
Government to tell us what type of EU action on FGM it expected
to be included in the draft Conclusions and, once a draft became
available, to indicate whether it considered the action proposed
to be appropriate and proportionate. Meanwhile, we retained the
Communication under scrutiny.
4.6 It is disappointing that we have had to wait
so long for a Government response and frustrating that it contains
so little information on the content of the Conclusions agreed
by the Justice and Home Affairs Council nearly a year ago, in
June 2014.[25]
We do not question the value of the work undertaken by the Government
domestically to combat FGM. The purpose of our scrutiny has been
to ensure that action at EU level is appropriate and proportionate.
4.7 We remind the Minister that we sought information
on the content of the proposed Council Conclusions well in advance
of the June 2014 Council meeting, in order to consider whether
there was an appropriate balance between action to be taken at
national and EU level and to ensure that any EU level action was
proportionate. The Minister's delayed response, as well as her
focus on domestic achievements rather than developments at EU
level, has frustrated our ability to consider how the Government
proposed to secure its objectives before agreeing to the Conclusions
and whether it has, in fact, done so. Such delay also undermines
the principle of accountability to Parliament, which is best achieved
by the provision of timely information before, not after, agreement
has been reached in Brussels.
4.8 We note the Minister's belated assurance that
the Conclusions are "appropriate and proportionate".
The focus now will be on implementation of both the Communication
and the Council Conclusions, which we consider will be of wider
interest to the House. Accordingly, we recommend a debate in European
Committee B which should concentrate on the respective roles of
the Commission and Member States and the "added value"
of EU action.
Full details of the documents:
Commission Communication: Towards the elimination of female
genital mutilation: (35614), 17228/13, COM(13) 833.
Background
4.9 Our earlier Reports, listed at the end of this
chapter, provide a more detailed overview of the problems identified
in tackling FGM within the EU and the actions proposed by the
Commission. They include:
· the development of a common methodology
and indicators to measure the prevalence of FGM;
· better use of EU funding to support professional
training;
· an analysis of existing criminal laws
relating to FGM (prosecutions for FGM are rare, and until recently,
there had been none in the UK, despite the introduction of specific
legislation in 1985);
· the exchange of best practice;
· the inclusion of references to FGM in
country of origin information produced by the European Asylum
Support Office; and
· incorporating FGM in political and human
rights dialogues with third countries and supporting initiatives
within the UN and regionally to eliminate FGM.
The Minister's letter of 23 March 2015
4.10 The Minister for Crime Prevention (Lynne Featherstone)
apologises for the delay in responding to the questions raised
in our earlier Reports. She notes the Coalition Government's commitment
to tackling FGM and the significant amount of work undertaken
since we last heard from her Department in February 2014. She
continues:
"As you may be aware, in July 2014 the Coalition
Government held the first, ground-breaking Girl Summit. The Summit
brought together a range of stakeholders to accelerate momentum
in tackling child, early and forced marriage and FGM and rally
a global movement to end the practices everywhere within a generation.
Since the Summit, the Coalition Government has delivered a comprehensive
package of actions to tackle FGM, including:
· The introduction of new legislation
via the Serious Crime Act 2015 to:
o introduce a new mandatory requirement for
health and social care professionals and teachers to report cases
of FGM to the police;
o extend the reach of the extra-territorial
offences in the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003;
o confer anonymity on victims of FGM;
o make the law clearer on parents' or guardians'
liability for failing to prevent their child being subjected to
FGM; and
o create new civil protection orders.
· Improved information sharing between
midwives, health visitors and social workers.
· The launch of a new function as part
of GOV.UK to signpost local FGM services, improved multi agency
guidelines, an e-learning package and an updated prevalence study.
· The launch of a £1.4m FGM prevention
programme with NHS England.
· Mandatory recording of FGM data across
the NHS.
· Increased community engagement funding
for projects to raise awareness of FGM including with girls in
at-risk communities.
· The launch of a network of community champions/ambassadors
to tackle FGM.
· The launch of a declaration of religious
leaders and faith community leaders against FGM.
· The roll out of a communications campaign
to raise awareness of FGM amongst professionals and practising
communities.
· The launch of a specialist FGM unit
which is providing outreach support to local areas, coordinating
policy across Government, and working closely with professionals,
community organisations and survivors to develop policies and
share best practice."
4.11 The Minister reminds us of the areas of activity
which the Government considers can best be achieved at Member
State level without the need for action at EU level (these are
set out fully in our Thirty-seventh Report of Session 2013-14
listed at the end of this chapter). She describes the progress
made in these areas:
"The multi-agency guidelines on FGM for
professionals were updated in 2014, and the Serious Crime Act
includes provision for statutory guidance on FGM which professionals
must have regard to. A Home Office-funded e-learning course for
professionals is now freely available, and a series of e-learning
modules for healthcare professionals have also been developed.
This guidance and training will further support information sharing
between relevant agencies.
"The Coalition Government is also working
to support the strengthening of the police response to FGM; the
College of Policing are launching a new Authorised Professional
Practice on FGM, and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
are this year carrying out a force level inspection of the police's
response to honour based crime, including FGM.
"As stated previously, we are fully committed
to sharing effective practice, where skills and knowledge can
be transferred across Member States, and we will continue to seek
opportunities to do this. For example, in February this year we
hosted an event to share effective practice and learning to support
colleagues across the EU in improving their own response to tackling
FGM."
4.12 Turning to the specific questions we raised
about the content of the Justice and Home Affairs Council Conclusions
on preventing and combating all forms of violence against women
and girls, including FGM, the Minister tells us that she considers
them to be "appropriate and proportionate", adding:
"As you may be aware, the Coalition Government
agreed with the Council's Conclusions and considers that the UK's
work on FGM is consistent with the actions that the Council calls
on Member States to undertake."
4.13 The Minister draws our attention to a Report
on FGM published by the Home Affairs Select Committee in July
2014, as well as the Government's response, published in December
2014, explaining how the Government intends to meet each of the
Committee's recommendations.
Previous Committee Reports
Thirty-fourth Report HC 83-xxxi (2013-14), chapter
6 (5 February 2014) and Thirty-seventh Report HC 83-xxxiv (2013-14),
chapter 12 (26 February 2014).
23 See the EIGE Report. Back
24
Letter of 20 February 2014 from the then Minister for Crime Prevention
(Norman Baker) to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee.
Back
25
The Council Conclusions, June 2014. Back
| 
