Police officers in London have arrested two people over the genital mutilation of a baby girl, it has been reported.
The alleged criminals live in Britain and the baby is believed to have been mutilated at five to six weeks old - believed to be the youngest case reported.
Female genital mutilation involves the cutting or removal of female sexual tissue and has been illegal in the UK since 1985.
However, because a culture of secrecy surrounds the procedure, no one in the UK has ever been prosecuted for the crime, but officers hope this case could lead to the first.
Read more - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507216/Two-people-arrested-Met-detectives-genital-mutilation-baby-girl-months-old.html
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More than 1,500 women victims of genital mutilation in shock statistics compiled by ONE hospital in Britain. Karen Lewis, a midwife at St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London, warned that some staff were fearful of getting involved because they saw the backstreet operations as a cultural issue, rather than abuse.
She said: 'The women we see have often faced years of pain and suffer flashbacks and other psychological problems. Some of them are also terrified of childbirth because of what's happened to them in the past.'' Some of them also don't realise that FGM is wrong and are quite horrified when we tell them.
About genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation, or FGM, is a common practice among some Muslim communities across the middle of Africa, including Somalia, Eritrea, North Sudan and central Mali.
It is also present in Muslim communities in Indonesia, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, among others.
The operation involves cutting or removing female sexual tissue. It can also involve stitching using silk thread or catgut.
The process is supposed to cleanse the woman of sexual impurity and victims can spend up to 40 days bound from the waist down while healing.
The operation is usually performed on children or young girls before entering adolescence, though ages vary from community to community.
Given that most surgeries are performed by untrained women, commonly Aunts of the girls or village matrons, risks include infection, pain, sterility, and death due to blood loss. Due to the nature of the wounds, problems can occur later during childbirth.
While the practice has been illegal in the UK since 1985, there have so far been no prosecutions due in part to victim's reluctance to come forward, and also because some women do not recognise it as a crime.
The practice is also specifically outlawed in Belgium, Sweden and some US states. In Africa several nations, including Somalia, have made declarations against the practice though across the continent legislation is patchy and difficult to enforce.
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