Female Genital Mutilation

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (LD)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, on securing this important debate on issues relating to FGM, and I commend her for the important work that she does with the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust in supporting communities affected by oppression, exploitation and persecution. I have spoken many times in this House on issues affecting women and children from developing countries, and relish the opportunity to add to this debate on FGM.

Women’s health and empowerment rightly feature in the UN’s flagship millennium development goals, launched in 2000. However, it is widely thought that not enough progress has been made in these important areas. I am therefore encouraged that our Government are taking steps to improve this. As we have heard from many speakers today, FGM has a devastating effect on women, even on our own doorstep in the UK. The facts and figures on how many women and girls are still subjected to this barbaric act are staggering.

Over the past couple of years there has been a steep rise in awareness of FGM, and I am encouraged that it is the ambition of the Government, led by my right honourable friend Lynne Featherstone in the Department for International Development, to eradicate FGM within a generation. Lynne has led the way in our Government on breaking the taboo on this topic. At the UN Status of Women meeting in March 2013, as we have heard from my noble friend Lady Barker, our Government pledged up to £35 million to help reduce FGM by 30% in at least 10 countries within the next five years. I hope that the Minister can assure us that that money is being put to good use. I am glad that this UK funding will be targeted directly within local communities in many countries across the world, as that is where real change can begin.

On 20 December 2012, almost a year ago, the UN passed its resolution on:

“Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations”.

We must build on this momentum by ensuring that the post-2015 MDG framework contains a strong emphasis on eliminating violence against women, including FGM.