London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

UK courts powerless to prevent deportation of girl, 10, at risk of FGM

UK courts powerless to prevent deportation of girl, 10, at risk of FGM

Fears child may return to Sudan via Bahrain after Home Office challenged efforts to stop deportation

A British court has said it has no power to stop the deportation of a 10-year-old girl at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) after authorities rejected her mother’s asylum application.

The girl’s mother, who travelled to Britain from Bahrain and would be sent back there if deported, had expressed fears authorities there could force her and her daughter to return to Sudan, where she is originally from.

Sudan has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world. Most girls there undergo the practice, which involves the partial or total removal of external genitalia, aged between five and nine.

A family court had ruled that the girl could be subjected to FGM if taken abroad after social services applied for a protection order to stop her being deported.

But Britain’s Home Office, which handles immigration issues, challenged the court’s power to prevent her deportation and on Wednesday the court accepted it did not have such powers.

The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment on the case by the time of publication.

The UK has invested heavily in efforts to combat FGM in countries where it is practised, notably in parts of Africa, and is viewed as an international leader in the field.

But Charlotte Proudman, the lawyer who represented the girl’s mother in court, said there was a contradiction between the government’s stated commitment to end FGM and its immigration policies.

“They are happy to prosecute FGM, they are happy to give money abroad to stamp it out, but they are failing to protect women who are at risk if deported,” Proudman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

FGM is linked with severe long-term complications including cysts, infections and complications in childbirth. In the most severe cases, the vaginal opening is sewn up.

The girl’s mother said she had undergone FGM, as had her two sisters, who both died as a result, according to court papers.

One of the single biggest indicators that a girl is at risk is her mother having been cut, studies have shown.

About 87% of Sudan’s women aged between 15 and 49 have been cut, and the majority have undergone the severest form, infibulation, according to the World Health Organization.

Although FGM is a recognised ground for asylum in Britain, the Home Office – the government department responsible for immigration – has previously argued that the risk in similar cases was low.

Proudman said she would ask the government to accept expert assessments of the risks the girl faced if deported and grant her secure immigration status.

Anti-FGM campaigner Alimatu Dimonekene said authorities were failing to consider the rights of children when processing the asylum applications of their parents.

“This girl will be at risk not only of FGM if she returns to these countries, but will be at risk of other known extreme forms of violence,” added Dimonekene, who runs the charity A Girl At A Time.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
×