Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders – A Balancing Act between Safeguarding against the Risk of FGM and Other Fundamental Rights of the Child
by Iulia Mirzac
Question(s) at stake
Whether a local authority’s application for a Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order (FGMPO) prohibiting the removal of the female infant from the UK to Sudan should be granted. Whether the FGMPO’s interference with the rights of the child and those of her family under Article 8 of the ECHR is justified to protect her rights under Article 3 of the ECHR.
Outcome of the ruling
The High Court granted the local authority a FGMPO to prevent the infant from travelling with her mother to Sudan. The child faced a real risk of undergoing FGM in Sudan, which her mother was determined to protect her from but would have been unable to do.
The state, through its courts, has a positive obligation to take all reasonable preventive measures to protect a person at risk of FGM. The FGMPO’s interference with the rights of the child and those of her family under Article 8 of the ECHR was a necessary measure to safeguard the child from treatment contrary to her rights under Article 3.
Country:
Official citation
A Local Authority v M [2018] EWHC 870 (Fam)
Topic(s)
Keywords:
Balancing act Bodily practices Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Genital modifications Genital modifications Right to physical integrity Right to respect for family life Right to respect for private life Rights and freedoms
Tag(s):
Gender Female genital mutilation protection orders
Bibliographic information
Access case report
View case report in the CUREDI databaseAbout the authors
Iulia Mirzac (Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham)
Doctoral Candidate at the University of Birmingham carrying out ESRC-funded research on judicial interpretations of undefined concepts within the UK anti-trafficking framework in England and Wales. Teaching Associate on the 'Decolonising Legal Methods' module at Birmingham Law School. Research Consultant at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, providing legal commentaries of asylum decisions based on gender-based violence published under the Institute's CUREDI database.