Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK Ambassador to Burkina Faso has made representations to the government of Burkina Faso on the practice of female genital mutilation.

Ambassadors and High Commissioners have raised Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) with the governments of Chad, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The Secretary of State for International Development raised it with the President of Sierra Leone during her visit earlier in November. The UK does not shy away from raising FGM with governments as part of our wider human rights dialogue.

The UK is committed to working with governments and international and local partners to eradicate the abusive practice of female genital mutilation. Our ongoing commitment is demonstrated through the 2014 UK-hosted Girl Summit, our flagship £35 million regional programme and bilateral work in many countries.