Loi & MGF

France, where FGM was criminalized as early as 1983, is often cited as an example of good practice in the implementation of the law to tackle FGM in Europe. The practice can lead to 10 years in prison or 20 years if the victim is under 15 years. Until 2014, more than 40 FGM cases were brought before criminal courts, and around 100 people were prosecuted, most in the mid-1990s. According to UEFGM platform, “the comparatively high number and visibility of cases prosecuted has played a major part in raising awareness within families and the general public” and the trials, together with community initiatives, have resulted in a decrease in prevalence since the 1980s. Currently, France is the only country to have prosecuted a substantial number of persons for practising FGM. (Berer M., 2015; United to End FGM)

In the UK, the first law criminalizing FGM was passed in 1985 and was revised in 2003. In 2015 several measures against FGM were included in the Serious Crimes Bill, including: “making it illegal to fail to protect a girl from FGM, possibility to apply for a travel restriction for girls at risk, genital examinations, anonymity for victims to encourage reporting, a lower burden of proof than before.”  The first trial concerned a doctor who had treated an infibulated woman during an emergency delivery in 2013. The doctor, and another man who had been charged, were finally acquitted. This trial was criticized as reports indicated that the government was under pressure to have a “show trial” because no prosecution had taken place despite the law and several years of investigating potential cases. (Berer M., 2015, )

Below we are listing the main FGM court cases in Europe (as of July 2021): 

• • Switzerland (2018): A Somali woman from canton Neuchâtel was sentenced to eight months’ prison over the genital mutilation of her two daughters, in the first Swiss case of its kind after a law change. The FGM had been performed abroad. 
  • UK (beginning 2019): In a first case in the UK, in February 2019, a woman was found guilty for having performed FGM on her 3 year-old daughter. Ths sentencing was later suspended. 
  • Ireland (end 2019): A court jury found a married couple guilty of carrying out FGM on their one- year old daughter.
  • Finland (2019): First FGM Case brought to court, defendant declared not guilty 
  • Russia (2020): Russia, who does not have a specific law against FGM, had its first trial in 2020 in the case of a nine-year old girl who was subjected to FGM in a clinic in Magas, the capital of the Northern Caucasus region of Ingushetia (Russian Federation) at her father’s initiative. The mother of the girl did not consent to the operation and pressed charges against the gynaecologist who performed the operation, who is now under trial. 
  • Portugal (2021): A woman whose daughter underwent FGM during a trip to Guinea Bissau, in 2019, was sentenced to three years in prison. This sentence was suspended in July 2021. Read the CoP report of the Portugal case here.

• Greece (2019): Law 4619/2019 criminalised FGM through a specific provision in the penal code
• Finland is in the process of adding to the Penal Code a specific offence on FGM (so far they criminalise FGM only through general provision)