This House of Lords Library Briefing provides background information on the United Nations International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, 6 February 2017 (107 KB , PDF)
The International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation aims to raise awareness of the practice and work towards the elimination of female genital mutilation, which is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women; reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. In July 2014, the UK and UNICEF co-hosted the first Girl Summit, aimed at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end FGM within a generation. FGM has been a criminal offence in the UK since the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 (later replaced by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003). Despite it being a criminal offence, the first criminal prosecution did not take place until 2014 when a doctor was alleged to have performed FGM, but acquitted after trial. The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee’s latest report, Female Genital Mutilation: Abuse Unchecked, 15 September 2016, makes recommendations to encourage more successful prosecutions.
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, 6 February 2017 (107 KB , PDF)
This proposed law would prevent sentencing guidelines setting out when a pre-sentence report should be obtained from being framed by reference to the personal characteristics of an offender such as race, religion or belief and cultural background.
The Community Security Trust, a UK charity that works to protect Jews from antisemitism and other threats, has reported a significant increase in antisemitic incidents on UK university campuses following the start of the current conflict in the Middle East. This briefing provides background information on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism and its adoption by UK universities, before concluding with a summary of recent government policy to tackle antisemitism in the higher education sector.
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day, events which in 1945 brought an end to the second world war. On those days 80 years ago, celebrations erupted across Britain. However, world leaders and domestic politicians were aware of the numerous problems still to be tackled, such as reconstruction, demobilisation and the legacy of the development and use of the atomic bomb.
