A number of us recently co-identifed as sharing very serious concerns about the continuing nightmarishly high levels of female genital mutilation (FGM or ‘cutting’) in the UK.  We therefore set about lobbying as citizens to ensure everything possible is done to bring this unthinkably grim child abuse to a halt.

The decision was made to set up an e-petition on the H.M. Government website, a website where signatories must indicate whether they are British citizens / residents – which factor we judged important, given that our demand is in effect that enough UK taxes be allocated to eradicate fully the practice of FGM in Britain. The wording of our e-petition was very carefully considered, and we also checked thoroughly that it did not duplicate any other petition on the website.

Imagine therefore our dismay that the petition has now been rejected with no apparently coherent explanation.

Is this a case, as some have suggested, of ‘protecting adult embarrassments, rather than protecting small children at risk of devastating harm’?  The full original text of the e-petition follows, along with the HMG (Cabinet Office) response; so you can decide for yourself…  But one thing is certain. There will be another attempt at this HMG e-petition very soon.

UPDATE! Please sign and forward this e-petition (for UK citizens), posted 25 June 2012 on the HM Government website:

STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM / ‘cutting’) in Britain

If you have a Twitter account and would like to draw more attention to this issue, please use the hashtag   #NoFGM  and follow  @NoFGM1.  Thank you.

This is the original full version of the e-petition:

STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM: ‘cutting’ or circumcision) in Britain 

Over 20,000 children in Britain are estimated to be at risk annually of female genital mutilation (FGM or ‘cutting’) – more than 50 girls and babies every day, or 2+ every hour.

It is a child protection scandal of massive dimension that even now (May 2012) no-one in the UK has been fully sanctioned by the law for performing or allowing FGM in the UK, or on UK minors.

The legal position is clear and is not, even remotely, being upheld.

There can be no ‘taboo’ issues in law.

The embarrassment of carers and others responsible for safe-guarding children, or community unwillingness to intervene ‘for cultural reasons’, cannot excuse inaction on child cruelty.

Criminal abuse of children must not be ignored because those who enforce the law are uncertain how to deal with perpetrators and their victims.

This scandalous professional neglect, with 20,000+ children in the UK at risk, must be remedied forthwith.  Full enforcement of the law must be brought to bear immediately.

The response from the Cabinet Office, after a long delay, is this, and only this (with nobody’s signature and no enquiries phone number, or email, or postal address):

HM Government e-petitions: Your e-petition has been rejected

Your e-petition “STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM: ‘cutting’ or  circumcision) in Britain” hasn’t been accepted.

E-petitions will not be accepted if they:

• contain information which may be protected by an injunction or court order
• contain material that is potentially confidential, commercially sensitive or which may cause personal distress or loss
• include the names of individuals if they have been accused of a crime or information that may identify them
• include the names of individual officials who work for public bodies, unless they are part of the senior management of those organisations
• include the names of family members of elected representatives, eg MPs, or officials who work for public bodies

Safeguarding children from female genital mutilation

So, are you any the wiser?  No? Well, we aren’t either, as yet.

But we will be. Official estimates, averaged out, suggest at least two small girls are at risk of this awful abuse every hour, every day, in the UK.

Bringing FGM to an end is much too much of an imperative for us, and many other lobbies, to let obtuse bureaucracy stand in the way of stopping this barbaric practice in the UK.  If you also want to ask your MP or others why this petition was blocked, please feel free.

For further information, and for links to original data / material, please visit

#NoFGM: A Listing For [UK] Action & References On Female Genital Mutilation

The Other FGM Debate: Is Male Circumcision Also Child Abuse?

HM Government e-petition on FGM rejected  (this post, just for ref.)

FGM: The Difficult Debates

FGM In Britain: Professional Culpability, Public Responsibility, Private Peril

FGM – Professional Neglect; Legitimate Moral Panic

FGM is a universal horror, not just in Britain

Women under threat world-wide (still); demand action now.

FGM (female circumcision) is illegal and cruel – and culturally challengeable everywhere

Footnote / disclosure: The author of this post (HB) has no business or commercial interest of any sort in connection with FGM.  She finds herself prompted to write about FGM simply because she recently discovered that, far from its incidence diminishing in the UK, the number of child victims is already vast, and probably rising. Your thoughts about this difficult issue are welcome below, as Comment. Thank you.

If you have a Twitter account and would like to draw more attention to this issue, please use the hashtag   #NoFGM  and follow  @NoFGM1.  Thank you.