Needed Right Now: A ‘Keep Safe’ Phone-Line To Stop Female Genital Mutilation in Britain

Female genital mutilation is an abhorrence, yet little to stop it has been done even in countries like Britain.  With the summer ‘cutting season’ upon us, there is an urgent need to move beyond moralising, to finding real, practical ways to eradicate FGM.  One approach would be to have a single-number national phone-line, co-ordinated to cover all aspects of FGM and similar abuse, as the first point of call for everyone whether concerned professionals or neighbours, family friends and neighbours, and even (older) children themselves.

Since this article was written the NSPCC have introduced a free FGM hotline which can be used by anyone, anonymously or by name as preferred:

0800 028 3550, or email fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk

There is no place anywhere, ever for female genital mutilation (FGM). But somehow Britain has become the ‘capital of FGM‘ in Europe. Better news is that the UK Government has now pledged up to £35 million towards the global eradication of FGM.

Curiously however few people so far seem to know how – other than it being administered largely via international agencies and in part directed at research and development – that money is likely to be spent.

So… here’s an idea for a modest element of the £35m which addresses both the enormous problems in countries traditionally associated with FGM, and also aims to stop this horrendous and illegal ‘practice’ in the UK….

** We must have a free dedicated UK-wide phone-line. **

Let’s call it the ‘Keep Safe Line‘ (KSL); and let’s be sure to get the prototype up and running before the grim ‘vacation cutting season’ begins, when the school summer holidays arrive in later July. This is what would the KSL national call-line must do:

* The phone-line must be staffed 24/7 with properly trained professionals who will advise co-workers, general callers and people in emergency situations.

* The KSL phone-line should focus initially on FGM alone over the ‘cutting season’; but once established it must become the first public point of call for all harm to children and vulnerable adults. (The Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter tragedies demonstrate only too clearly that child cruelty takes many forms; and women at risk of FGM are also ‘vulnerable’. So are some older people, and all at risk of domestic violence. )

* The KSL phone-line must be just one simple, memorable number across the UK. But KSL will not compete with currently disperse providers such as the local statutory child protection services – all with different telephone numbers – or the NSPCC, FORWARD and ChildLine; phone calls to KSL will be directed on as appropriate.

* The KSL will record anonymous tip-offs, initiate immediate emergency action, and also offer in-depth advice to professionals and the public. The person making contact can if they wish choose anonymity when the call commences. (The anonymous FGM deterrence feature will help those currently frightened to speak out – a serious personal safety issue in some UK communities.)

* The multitude of Government Department FGM guidelines etc can be collated on a website with the single national KSL phone number as a main search term, thus bringing together all the various attempts at legal (criminal law) action, advice and information. This will help to make both hard-pressed professionals and the general public aware of these resources and how to use them.

* The KSL number can be co-ordinated with texting and an email address which will reach the same advisors, for anyone concerned about child abuse or FGM who cannot, or prefers not to, make a direct telephone call.

* The FGM ‘Passport’ for children at risk of being taken abroad for ‘vacation cutting’ must carry the KSL single national phone number, prominently displayed.

* Importantly, the KSL national phone-line can also be a prototype for use in other countries as well as Britain. Once the methodologies have been developed they can easily be transported (and adapted) for use elsewhere.

…

The KSL phone line provides a practical, real-time mode for developing integrated FGM services; and it puts FGM firmly in the category of criminal abuse. A co-ordinated 24/7 national phone line also provides a rich seam for policy researchers – important, as the promised £35 million to stop FGM expressly includes research. Facilitating both anonymous reporting and a personal discussion service, it will offer opportunities to identify where certain types of crimes are most common, and at what ages / on whom they are inflicted. (And, although this cannot be a first priority when child abuse is concerned, in the longer run it will actually reduce required public spending.)

Given that FGM is not the ‘only’ traditional harmful practice which women and girls in some communities are forced to endure, the phone-line will help also to identify the extent to which these other grim practices exist in the UK. Over time all the research findings will help in assigning the right resources to the right places.

The temptation on-high to allocate blame (“It’s teachers’ / whoever’s fault…”) rather than address deeply-embedded problems is avoided when a simple and easily understood mechanism to deliver appropriate action is to hand.

There are those who suppose every aspect of public service is best administered and funded at local level. The total failure in the UK thus far to protect young girls from FGM provides tragic and compelling confirmation that this is belief is irremediably wrong.

To continue in such a mode amounts to knowing, cruel neglect of children at risk of a barbaric, sometimes deadly ‘traditional practice’.

We are promised £35 million towards the eradication of female genital mutilation world-wide. The KSL Keep Safe PhoneLine proposed here will take just a small fraction of that money, even after implementation and staff training and publicity. The FGM high season almost upon us. Let’s now focus intently on implementing a pilot KSL service before it begins.

This article was first published in the Huffington Post on 15 May 2013.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND ACTION

Readers are invited to support these two FGM e-petitions:

UK Government: Enforce the UK law which forbids FGM (Female Genital so-called ‘Cutting’)    .. and

FGM abolitionists internationally: Support the Feminist Statement on Female Genital Mutilation

[See also HM Government e-petition, No. 35313, to STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM / ‘cutting’) in Britain  (for UK citizens and residents – now closed).]

There is a free FGM hotline for anyone in the UK: 0800 028 3550, or email: fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk

The #NoFGM Daily News carries reports of all items shared on Twitter that day about FGM – brings many organisations and developments into focus.

For more on FGM please see here.

Twitter accounts: @NoFGM1  @NoFGMBookUK  @FGMStatement  [tag for all: #NoFGM]

Facebook page: #NoFGM – a crime against humanity

More info on FGM in the UK here.

Email contact: NoFGM email

** Hilary Burrage is currently writing a book, Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation: A UK Perspective

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