Dutch schools warned to be alert to female circumcision

The Ministry of Education sent a letter to all schools in the Netherlands urging them to be extra alert to signs of female circumcision in the period around the spring school holidays. Over the break, girls are more at risk of being taken to a country to be circumcised, RTL Nieuws reports.

This form of genital mutilation has been illegal in the Netherlands since 1993. It is also illegal to take a girl abroad to get it done, though no one has been convicted of this crime to date. In the Netherlands, an estimated 41,000 women have been circumcised, and about 4,200 girls are at risk of genital mutilation in the coming years, according to knowledge institute Pharos and the GGD health services.

School holidays are a dangerous period for girls at risk of genital mutilation, according to the GGD. “There are stories that special trips are offered where parents are in a resort while their daughters get circumcised,” Marike Voormolen of the GGD said to RTL Nieuws. “Parents are often pressured by family abroad to circumcise their daughters. That is why we issue special statements stating that this form of mutilation is punishable. In all kinds of languages, so that the family abroad can also read it.”

Minister Dennis Wiersma for Primary and Secondary Education believes schools can play a significant role in countering these types of “medieval situations.” He called on teachers to be extra alert to girls showing strange behavior or suddenly being absent from school for unclear reasons. “We are jointly obliged to pay extra attention to these terrible situations.”

Teachers who notice anything suspicious should report it. The GGD and VeilighThuis, the organization against domestic and child abuse, can help schools with this, Wiersma said in his letter.

VVD parliamentarian Bente Becker wants the government to do more than focus on information and prevention when it comes to genital mutilation. “We must set a hard standard of what we consider acceptable in our country and enforce it. So that we really protect the girls,” Becker said. “I think judges should be able to impose an exit ban on girls at risk of being taken abroad. After all, circumcision often takes place abroad.”

The VVD also wants to oblige schools and doctors to report signs of genital mutilation. “The starting point should be that if a teacher or doctor comes across this form of mutilation, they must always sound the alarm so that the right help can be initiated for the girl. At the moment, that is not happening enough, leading to too few reports, and teachers and doctors are too often left alone.”