Female Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriage and Honour-Based Abuse

Female genital mutilation, forced marriage and honour-based abuse are serious safeguarding concerns that can place a child or young person at immediate risk of significant harm. Treat these matters urgently, do not dismiss them as culture or tradition, and follow safeguarding routes that prioritise the young person’s safety over family reassurance.

These harms often overlap. A child may be threatened, monitored, taken abroad, cut off from friends, or pressured into a marriage or a harmful procedure. Apparent compliance can reflect fear rather than choice.

Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is child abuse and a form of violence against women and girls. Risk may become apparent before travel, during school holidays, after a prolonged absence, or on return with pain, difficulty walking or sitting, urinary problems, bleeding or distress.

Concerns may concern future risk or indicate that FGM has already occurred. In England and Wales, known cases in under-18s trigger a legal duty to report to the police for certain professionals. Suspected or risk-only cases still require urgent safeguarding action, and safeguarding duties apply across the UK.

Forced Marriage and Honour-Based Abuse

Forced marriage differs from arranged marriage because it lacks free and full consent.

Honour-based abuse may involve:

• Threats
• Intimidation
• Surveillance
• Isolation
• Assault
• Coercive control
• Abandonment overseas
• Punishment linked to so-called family or community honour

Warning signs include fear about travel abroad, withdrawal from friends or school, self-harm, strict phone monitoring, removal of travel documents, talk of engagement or shame, or a young person saying they have no choice.

Clinical Response Within Role

Act promptly. If there is imminent travel, risk of being taken abroad, recent FGM, or signs that a young person cannot safely leave with accompanying adults, escalate immediately through safeguarding, senior clinical staff, the police or emergency services as appropriate.

Do not downplay concerns because a family appears calm or respectable, and do not frame this as a family disagreement. The priority is whether the child is at risk of significant harm.

If a child or young person may be at immediate risk of FGM, forced marriage, or honour-based abuse, treat it as urgent safeguarding and escalate without delay.