Norway: Illegal female circumcision

The police fear that women from Somalia and Ethiopia come to Norway on tourist visa to perform illegal circumcision on young girls, and have already investigated two concrete cases. The Labour Party demands health checks of young girls.

Somali and Ethiopian sources confirm that such illegal circumsicison is taking place, NRK reports.


- Investigations into such cases are very difficult. Persons who have been here on a visitor's visa, have left again before we have been able to prove anything, says Chief Inspector Finn Abrahamsen of the Oslo Police.


However, most parents still chose to send their daughters to private clinics abroad, in France, England and the Netherlands, or to countries in the Middle East. Against these, Norwegian police can do very little.


- School nurses, teachers or others close to the child say nothing. The police cannot examine the girls on their own initiative, Abrahamsen says.

Labour Party spokesman for immigration policy, Arild Stokkan-Grande, says the Government must introduce a health check for young girls in order to reveal cases of illegal circumcision.

Source: Norway Post (English)

Update:

Some more interesting information:

Girls are being circumcised at an earlier age - possibly to prevent them from telling teachers or other kids of the procedure. The common age for circumcision among Somali girls has fallen from 6-8 down to 2-4. For parents who don't want to give up the harmful tradition it is preferable not to need to take the risky trip back to their homeland.

Source: SA.no (Norwegian)

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