A Call 4 Action (FGM)

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A Call 4 Action (FGM)

• Afrah Qassim
• Community Development Worker
• Inclusion Matters Liverpool
• Chair/Cofounder of Savera

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Acronym /Abbreviation

• DRE (Delivering Race Equalities)
• BME (Black and Minority Ethnic)
• MAMER (Black Minority Ethnic Refugees)
• FGM ( Female Genital Mutilation)
• VAWG (Violence against women Girls)
• HBV (Honour Based Violence)
• FM (Forced Marriage)
• FMU (Forced Marriage Unit
• LSCB (Local/Liverpool Safeguarding Board)
• DA ( Domestic Abuse)
• CPS (Crown prosecution Service)
• LWH ( Liverpool Women Hosptial

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Community Development Workers in Liverpool

• Implementation of Delivering Race Equality (DRE)
  in Mental Health Care
• The DRE is an action plan which provides a
  structure for tackling race inequalities in
  provision of mental health services for Black and
  Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities to
• Access to mental health services
• Experience of mental health services
• Outcomes from mental health services

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World wide Statistic to remind us WHY more
actions is needed.
125 million girls have been subjected to FGM
Over 60 million girls world wide married before
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Every year 5,000 women murdered by relatives to
protect family honour
120 million girls victims of Sexual violence
Over 30 Million girls are out of school
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The UKStatistic to remind us WHY more actions
needed.
Estimated 1.2 million women were victim of DA
Estimated 70.000 women were victim of rape and
over 330.000 women victims of a sexual assault
2,823 incidents of HBV in 2011
Over 20.000 girls under 15 yrs could be at risk
of FGM and nearly 66.000 women living with FGM
Ove 1,300 get reported to FMU every year
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Within our Local/regional

• ?

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Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls

• The United Nation defined it
• Any act of gender-based violence that results
  in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual
  or psychological harm or suffering to women,
  including threats of such acts, coercion or
  arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
  occurring in public or in private life. (The
  United Nation)

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Domestic Violence/Abuse?

• The UK Government defines domestic violence as
• 'Any incident or pattern of incidents of
  controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour,
  violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over
  who are or have been intimate partners or family
  members regardless of gender or sexuality.
• This can encompass, but is not limited to, the
  following types of abuse
• psychological
• physical
• sexual
• financial
• emotional

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Domestic Violence/Abuse
Too many women in too many countries speak the
same language of Silence (Anasuya Sengupta
1995)
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Domestic abuse within BME Communities

• BUT
• Violence/abuse could take a different form within
  BME families e.g
• Forced Marriage
• Honour Based Violence
• Female Genital Mutilation
• Culture/Religions and Beliefs used to control
  women
• Immigration control e.g (spouse, states)
• Preventing from integration e.g Not allowed to
  learn/work
• Financial abuse/control benefit
• Being Westernised

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Culture/Religion FGM

• Culture tradition
• Cculture represents, the values, norms, and
  traditions that affect how individuals of a
  particular group perceive, think, interact,
  behave, and make judgments about their world
• Religion a beliefs that individuals practice
  follow

FGM
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  http//www.desertflowerfoundation.org/
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Barriers Facing BME Women

• Language
• Stereotyping
• Unaware of their right/options
• Fear of accessing services Due to
• stigma
• Brings shame to the family,
• Dont want the children to be taken away.
• Not aware of what is out their and how to access

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FGM in Liverpool

• Concerns/Challenges
• Not certain of how big the problem of FGM in
  Liverpool, as there are no accurate monitoring or
  evaluation
• Lack of understanding/training of the issue
• Funding
• Still not enough campaign in the North West

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What are we doing?

• Nationally
• Girls Summit UK Government and UNICEF where a
  pledge made where
• UK Government has made commitment to tackle FGM
  across the UK
• To support countries with high provenance of FGM
• Fund for community engagement initiatives and
  marketing campaign
• The NSPCC FGM helpline (24 hours- 0800 028 3550)
• The expectation of services to collect Data of
  the different type of FGM

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What are we doing?

• Locally (Liverpool/Merseyside)
• Awareness/Training and educations within
  services/communities/professionals/universities/
  schools etc.
• Specialist Clinic, Liverpool Women Hospital
• Police, CPS and LWH working together to improve
  information sharing
• Local strategy guidance set within LSCB Website,
  to support services when dealing with FGM cases.
• Liverpool Local authority is now prioritising FGM
  as part of their VAWG strategy

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Further

• Services Provision
• Savera Liverpool Dedicated to tackling domestic
  abuse within Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and
  Refugee (BAMER) Communities and to the
  preservation and protection of the mental and
  physical health of women from these communities
  who are experiencing, or have experienced,
  domestic abuse,FM, HBV and FGM

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Poem by a young women who was survivor of FGM
and Forced Marriage
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Thank you

• Afrah Qassim (CDW)
• Email a.qassim_at_nhs.net
• Savera
• Email saveraliverpool_at_hotmailal.co.uk
• Website www.saveraliverpool.co.uk