Feb 9, 2019 09:52 PM
British Lawmaker Blocks Bill Against Female Genital Cutting (UK community)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/world...e-fgm.html
EXCERPT: . . . The bill would allow children to be placed in temporary care if they were deemed at risk of genital cutting, as is the case for other child abuse. But because the bill was not introduced by the government, a simple objection in a sparsely attended session was enough for Christopher Chope to block it on Friday on procedural grounds with one word — “Object” — the second time he has done so since November.
Mr. Chope’s latest move came a week after a woman in London became the first in the country to be convicted by a jury over the genital cutting of her daughter, at a time of heightened awareness about the issue, prompting reaction from campaigners and senior colleagues.
David Lamy, a Labour Party lawmaker, wrote on Twitter, wrote on Twitter, “Christopher Chope embodies a brand of thoughtless, regressive conservatism which can ruin lives.” Nimco Ali, a survivor of genital cutting and women’s rights campaigner, posted an exchange of text messages online in which she had asked Mr. Chope to give the bill a chance. He said no, calling for a full debate. “The truth is, he is simply playing games and doesn’t give a stuff about vulnerable girls,” she wrote on Twitter. [...] Zac Goldsmith, a fellow Conservative, who was among the bill’s backers, called Mr. Chope’s objection “appalling.”
In response, Mr. Chope accused his colleagues of “virtue-signaling rather than looking at the substance,” in an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper. “My constituents know what I am doing,” he said, adding that he was “not going to be put off” by a campaign of intimidation.
The bill against genital cutting, introduced and debated in the upper house of Britain’s Parliament, had already cleared all stages there. But it has to pass the House of Commons before it can become law.
On Friday, critics of Mr. Chope argued that his opposition wasn’t purely procedural. He previously objected to measures against taking upskirt photos of women and to the pardon of Alan Turing, the mathematician, computing pioneer and World War II code breaker convicted in 1952 for having sex with a man. (Versions of both bills passed later.) He has also consistently voted against allowing same-sex marriage in Britain, while most of his colleagues generally voted for it...
MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/world...e-fgm.html
Schoolgirl thought she was going on holiday – but instead became an FGM victim (UK community)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sc...d-13975700
INTRO: A schoolgirl thought she was going on holiday when her parents put her on a plane to East Africa. But when she got to Djibouti, the terrified ten-year-old was pinned down and mutilated. Today the victim is a 51-year-old mother of two. And she has spoken about her ordeal in the hope of helping other sufferers and to end the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation. Khatra Paterson said FGM was happening in secret every day in Britain 30 years after it was outlawed. “We have to make a stand to stop this painful, abhorrent practice,” she said. “It has no place in modern Britain or anywhere.”
MORE: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sc...d-13975700
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/world...e-fgm.html
EXCERPT: . . . The bill would allow children to be placed in temporary care if they were deemed at risk of genital cutting, as is the case for other child abuse. But because the bill was not introduced by the government, a simple objection in a sparsely attended session was enough for Christopher Chope to block it on Friday on procedural grounds with one word — “Object” — the second time he has done so since November.
Mr. Chope’s latest move came a week after a woman in London became the first in the country to be convicted by a jury over the genital cutting of her daughter, at a time of heightened awareness about the issue, prompting reaction from campaigners and senior colleagues.
David Lamy, a Labour Party lawmaker, wrote on Twitter, wrote on Twitter, “Christopher Chope embodies a brand of thoughtless, regressive conservatism which can ruin lives.” Nimco Ali, a survivor of genital cutting and women’s rights campaigner, posted an exchange of text messages online in which she had asked Mr. Chope to give the bill a chance. He said no, calling for a full debate. “The truth is, he is simply playing games and doesn’t give a stuff about vulnerable girls,” she wrote on Twitter. [...] Zac Goldsmith, a fellow Conservative, who was among the bill’s backers, called Mr. Chope’s objection “appalling.”
In response, Mr. Chope accused his colleagues of “virtue-signaling rather than looking at the substance,” in an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper. “My constituents know what I am doing,” he said, adding that he was “not going to be put off” by a campaign of intimidation.
The bill against genital cutting, introduced and debated in the upper house of Britain’s Parliament, had already cleared all stages there. But it has to pass the House of Commons before it can become law.
On Friday, critics of Mr. Chope argued that his opposition wasn’t purely procedural. He previously objected to measures against taking upskirt photos of women and to the pardon of Alan Turing, the mathematician, computing pioneer and World War II code breaker convicted in 1952 for having sex with a man. (Versions of both bills passed later.) He has also consistently voted against allowing same-sex marriage in Britain, while most of his colleagues generally voted for it...
MORE: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/world...e-fgm.html
Schoolgirl thought she was going on holiday – but instead became an FGM victim (UK community)
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sc...d-13975700
INTRO: A schoolgirl thought she was going on holiday when her parents put her on a plane to East Africa. But when she got to Djibouti, the terrified ten-year-old was pinned down and mutilated. Today the victim is a 51-year-old mother of two. And she has spoken about her ordeal in the hope of helping other sufferers and to end the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation. Khatra Paterson said FGM was happening in secret every day in Britain 30 years after it was outlawed. “We have to make a stand to stop this painful, abhorrent practice,” she said. “It has no place in modern Britain or anywhere.”
MORE: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sc...d-13975700
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