<p>Female Genital Mutilation</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 28 February 2017.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 2:15, 28 February 2017

I thank you for that answer. It is somewhat amazing that there have been no protection orders whatsoever issued and, consequently, no prosecutions for FGM in Wales. It is a crime against the person and it is the brutal abuse of minors, and we need to, in my opinion, call it out for what it is: it is child abuse—nothing more, nothing less. So, what I’m going to ask, Cabinet Secretary, is: according to the charity BAWSO, they currently support 788 families who are affected one way or another by FGM in Wales; will the Government work more closely with them to see if that support can be increased to allow those people to move forward, if it is required, to seek some protection orders and also, to work with the prosecution services, so that we can actually start prosecuting people in this country and send a very clear message that this will not be tolerated? Because it seems at the moment that it is being tolerated.