ABSTRACT
Introduction Over the past three or four decades, FGM has increasingly emerged amongst ethnic minority groups in many countries, including the United Kingdom. This increase has been contemporaneous with the arrival of immigrants, economic migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and students from FGM-practising countries (such as Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, Nigeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone). The 1985 Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act made FGM illegal in the UK, except on specific physical and mental health grounds. This Act was replaced by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, which came into force on 3 March 2004.
