International Women’s Day

My Lords, I, too, would like to congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, on instituting this debate to honour International Women’s Day, an occasion that is becoming a tradition and which is so much appreciated by all women Peers, and many men, in your Lordships’ House. I make no apology for speaking once more on a subject I have often reverted to in the past. Usually, I have had to discuss female genital mutilation in a negative way. How often, in this Chamber, has the question been asked: how many prosecutions have there been? When the answer is "None", the reaction is one of great disappointment and sometimes indignation. Unfortunately, I am still unable to say that any prosecutions have taken place. The police are anxious to bring them, but are deterred by a lack of evidence. The practice of FGM is kept secret and few in the communities where it is customary are willing to reveal to the authorities instances of its happening. In spite of that, and in spite of the frustrations met with in all our efforts to combat this horrible practice, I have something new and more positive to say. The FGM National Clinical Group and I, as their patron, have together produced a film, now on DVD, which shows a reversal of FGM being performed by a woman surgeon. Although I declare an interest, I point out that none of us, including of course myself, has any financial interest in this DVD. It is not a venture designed to make money, but to improve the lot of women victims. It shows how infibulation, the cutting and subsequent stitching of a woman’s genitalia, with all its consequent pain, suffering, inhibition of natural functions and difficulties in childbirth, can be reversed or, I may say, repaired—if not totally, at least to the extent of giving her a normal life. This surgical procedure, performed on a very brave young woman who volunteered to be filmed, was carried out under a local anaesthetic and shows that it is relatively simple to perform and takes only a short time. This DVD has the approval of the Chief Nursing Officer to the Government and of the Metropolitan Police under Project Azure. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has asked to use the DVD as a teaching and training resource. The object of making it available on websites to be seen by health professionals all over the United Kingdom is to show obstetricians, gynaecologists, midwives and nurses, first, the appearance of a woman’s genitalia when she has been infibulated; and secondly, how comparatively easily the operation that liberates her from the constrictions of FGM can be carried out. Reversals cost the patient nothing. They are available on the National Health Service and can be done on demand. Once the operation has been performed, the woman who has had her FGM reversed can enjoy a more satisfactory sex life and a trouble-free labour and childbirth. The proliferation of the National Clinical Group’s DVD is becoming extensive and we are gratified that many women are starting to avail themselves of this service—it is a triumph and an advance—but it makes, of course, no difference to our permanent aim to eradicate FGM, at least in the United Kingdom. However, this debate is for International Women’s Day and women’s achievements, and FGM is an international problem. Millions of women across Africa, from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to Kenya and Uganda, are at risk of FGM and for most of them it is an inescapable fate. If the practice of reversal spreads to other countries through the National Clinical Group’s DVD, we who belong to the group and have worked together to make this film will feel that progress is at last being made. It is not of course the answer to what is an ongoing problem and one which is, in my opinion, generally underrated in worldwide estimates of women’s suffering. However, if health professionals who are as yet ignorant of the appearance and results of FGM can be taught by this film to recognise and repair it, a considerable advance will have been made towards its eradication. For if its effects can be satisfactorily undone, performing it in the first place should gradually decline.