Specialist raising issue of female circumcision

Seeking asylum: Karen Muthiga fears what will happen if she is made to return to Nairobi.

UK - THE practice of female circumcision might seem a distant problem, taking place as it does mainly in African countries. But a specialist in Nottingham has warned that the practice – also called female genital mutilation – is a very real threat to some women in the city. James Ramowski, an immigration law specialist, has helped 21 women in the last three years who are originally from Kenya or the Gambia apply for asylum because they are under pressure to return to their home countries to be circumcised, or they fear they will have to undergo the procedure if they do travel home. "It is particularly prominent in Senegal, the Gambia and Kenya," said Mr Ramowski. "It is usually very old women who perform the circumcision. Often they do 20 to 30 girls or young women at a time with the same knife and no anaesthetic whatsoever. "Children as young as one or two can be circumcised, and the trend is moving towards circumcising earlier to prevent external knowledge or intervention. "One of my clients, Mariam, from the Mandinka tribe in the Gambia, got married and came to the UK with her husband. "She gave birth to a daughter here but her and her husband's families were insisting that they returned home to have her circumcised. "She said she remembered her sister being circumcised and nearly bleeding to death. She said her grandma told her: 'If she dies, it's what Allah wanted'. Full Story>>