Genital mutilation

We support the bodily integrity of all people as an inalienable human right and promote respect for the autonomous choices of individuals wherever possible.
Female genital mutilation, also known as FGM, is a deeply damaging, misogynistic practice that seeks to deny women the propensity for sexual pleasure or control of their sexuality. We support the outright ban of the practice, and we want to see effective enforcement.

Policy summary

Problem:
Female genital mutilation is unlawful in the UK, but still frequently happens; while non-medical genital surgery on boys is often carried out without their consent.

Consequences:
When decisions regarding genital mutilation are made by parents, children are excluded from the right to make their own decisions about major elective surgeries. Additionally, genital mutilation, especially female genital mutilation, can cause severe medical complications.

Our policy:
We want genital mutilation of girls and women to be prohibited and we want non-medical genital surgery on boys and men to be made a matter of personal choice, requiring the informed consent of the person undergoing it.

Recommendation:
We recommend that the UK governments improve their enforcement of the Female Genital Mutilation Acts and legislate to guarantee the right of every male to make an uncoerced decision regarding major surgeries.

In the case of male circumcision, we want the law to recognise every boy’s human right to make an uncoerced decision about major elective surgeries, such as circumcision, upon reaching an appropriate age of maturity.

In depth

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is a medically unnecessary procedure to totally or partially remove the external female genitalia. This procedure can cause severe medical complications including bleeding, urinary difficulties, cysts, infections, complications in childbirth, and an increase in infant mortality. In some cases the procedure can be fatal.

More than 230 million women and girls worldwide have undergone FGM. In the UK, it has been a criminal offence to perform FGM since 1985. The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 made it a crime in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland punishable by up to 14 years of imprisonment to aid, counsel, or procure FGM abroad on a UK national or permanent resident. The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 did the same thing in Scotland. However, despite the large number of women and girls receiving medical treatment due to FGM, there have only been two convictions in the UK under these laws.

This leaves many women and girls in the UK still suffering due to FGM. In 2014 the Government estimated that there are approximately 170,000 women and girls living with the consequences of FGM in the UK, with more than 20,000 a year thought to be at risk. The number of women and girls with FGM identified at NHS hospital and GP surgeries was 14,355 in 2023-24, up from 12,475 or 15% in 2022-23 according to NHS England.

Male circumcision

Non-medically necessary male circumcision, when the foreskin of the penis (most commonly of an infant child) is removed, is a lawful practice in the UK if there is consent from both parents. Most male circumcisions are carried out for religious reasons and are common practice in Jewish and Muslim communities.

The procedure has no medical benefits. On the contrary, it carries surgical risks and can lead to both psychological and sexual problems.

In 2012, the Cologne Regional Appellate Court in Germany ruled that the circumcision of young boys for non-medical reasons constitutes ‘bodily harm’, therefore rendering it unlawful. We welcomed the news; however the decision was subsequently overturned by a new law passed in December that year.

In 2018, Iceland considered legislation that would ban the performing of circumcision on infant males arguing that the practice is incompatible with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, but this was ultimately dropped following national and international opposition.

In 2023, six-month-old Mohamed Abdisamad died of complications following his non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC), namely an invasive Streptococcus pyogenes infection. The investigation into his death, published in 2025, found that there was a risk of future deaths unless action is taken. The coroner who submitted the report highlighted the following matters of concern regarding NTMC:

there is no training or external accreditation requirement
there are no record-keeping requirements
there is no system for consent to be taken
there are no requirements for infection control measures or aftercare, including dressing the wound, pain relief or worsening care advice.

In 2024, Mohammed Siddiqui pleaded guilty to 25 offences including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, child cruelty, and administering a prescription-only medicine to young and vulnerable patients while ignoring basic hygiene rules and performing NTMC on 21 boys between 2014 and 2019. Siddiqui was a practising doctor when he began carrying out NTMC in family homes with unsterilised tools, but was later suspended and struck off the General Medical Council Register for failures in performing NTMC on four babies. However, he was able to continue to carry out NTMC because it is not a regulated activity. The court heard that a number of children ended up in hospital including one who ‘almost died’. In 2025, he was sentenced to five years and years months in prison.

In 2026, a draft revision of the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance on ‘honour-based abuse, forced marriages, and harmful practices’ includes male circumcision as a potential crime along with breast flattening, virginity testing, hymenoplasty, and exorcism.

What we’re doing

We frequently support Humanists International in speaking out against genital mutilation at the UN Human Rights Council, and we have spoken out about male and female circumcision in the media.