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UK - FGM - REPORTED CASES RISING IN
LONDON - FEMALE
GENITAL MUTILIATION ILLEGAL IN UK
BUT NO PROSECUTIONS
The
number of cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) reported in
Dr
Comfort Momah, who runs a clinic in Guy's and
The
Met said it was aware that FGM was taking place in
But it said that as it was a "taboo" subject there had been no prosecutions.
FGM
is illegal in the
Dr
Momah, who runs one of the 11 African Well Women Clinics in
'Need to prosecute'
She said: "In London FGM is widely spread and in my clinic we see about 350 women and children with FGM related problems every year and do reversal in about 100 cases every year.
"We do have people calling me or calling other clinics saying I know a circumciser in Leytonstone, I know a doctor who is performing it within the community, but they won't give you the information."
She added that more cases are being reported since 2005.
"I see a lot of teenagers now, self-referring to the clinic and getting information from the internet," the doctor said.
Dr Momah said her clinic sees up to 350 women and children with FGM complications
"We
need to prosecute somebody if obviously a child is at risk."
The procedure can cause urinary infections, kidney failure, infertility and death.
Salimata
Knight, who underwent the procedure in
"It makes people suffer, and suffering has no identity, no race and no culture."
The Met said the number of interventions had risen from 38 in 2008 to 59 in 2009.
Its
Project Azure, which engages with the community, said
Det
Con Jason Morgan, from Project Azure, said: "It affects girls, often as
young as seven-days-old, so the girl might be too young to remember exactly
what happened, where it happened and who did it to them."