Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) involves a procedure where female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but where there is no medical reason for this to be done. This is known by many names, including ‘cutting’, ‘sunna’, ‘gudniin’, ‘halalays’, ‘tahur’, ‘megrez’, or ‘khitan’.
This can seriously harm the health of women and girls. It can also cause long-term problems with sex, child birth and mental health.
FGM is illegal in the UK. It is an offence to perform FGM (including taking a child abroad so that this can happen), help anyone perform FGM, or fail to protect a girl you are responsible for. Anyone who performs FGM can spend 14 years in prison. Anyone found guilty of failing to protect a girl from FGM can face 7 years in prison.