N O F G M A U S T R A L I A R E P O R T

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1 N O F G M A U S T R A L I A R E P O R T FGM PREVALENCE IN AUSTRALIA 1 1 G I R L S A D A Y A R E B O R N I N A U S T R A L I A A T H I G H R I S K O F F G M N U M B E R O F A U S T R A L I A N W O M E N A N D G I R L S A T R I S K M O R E T H A N D O U B L E D S I N C E O V E R 2 0 0, A U S T R A L I A N S U R V I V O R S N E E D S U P P O R T F I R S T I D E N T I F I C A T I O N O F T H E ' M I S S I N G H A L F A M I L L I O N ' W O M E N w w w. n o f g m o z. c o m p a u l n o f g m o z. c o m

2 " T o g e t h e r w e c a n e n d F G M i n m y g e n e r a t i o n " K h a d i j a G b l a E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r N o F G M A u s t r a l i a

3 F G M P R E V A L E N C E I N A U S T R A L I A : C O N T E N T S PAGE 1. Australian women and girls born overseas likely to be survivors of FGM or at high risk of FGM 4 2. Girls born in Australia at high risk of FGM 5 3. Australian women and girls born overseas in countries where FGM is practiced but prevalence is unknown 4. Girls born in Australia to "the missing half million" 7 5. FGM - a global perspective 8 5. About the FGM Prevalence in Australia Report 9 6. How did we calculate these statistics? Data Sources What does this mean for Australia? About No FGM Australia Authors of this report

4 F G M I N A U S T R A L I A 1. A u s t r a l i a n w o m e n a n d g i r l s b o r n o v e r s e a s l i k e l y t o b e s u r v i v o r s o f F G M o r a t h i g h r i s k o f F G M 209,099 - "Survivors" 209,099 women and girls in Australia are likely to be survivors of, or at high risk of FGM. These women were born overseas in countries where FGM is practiced and prevalence figures are available. We call this the "Survivors" group. This includes: 13,138 girls under 15 - may be at HIGH risk 126,371 women between the ages of ,590 women over 50 (non-childbearing) In No FGM Australia's 2014 report, only 83,000 women and girls born overseas were thought to be survivors or at high risk. This number has more than doubled.

5 F G M I N A U S T R A L I A 2. G i r l s b o r n i n A u s t r a l i a a t h i g h r i s k o f F G M 3,876 per year 11 girls every day Women of childbearing age from the "Survivors" group are estimated to give birth to around 3,876 girls every year that s around 11 per day. D a u g h t e r s o f " S u r v i v o r s " a r e a t h i g h r i s k o f F G M. One of the highest risk factors for a girl is for her mother to have had FGM. In No FGM Australia's 2014 report, 3 girls a day were thought to be born in Australia at a high risk of FGM. This number has more than tripled. 5

6 F G M I N A U S T R A L I A 3. A u s t r a l i a n w o m e n a n d g i r l s b o r n o v e r s e a s i n c o u n t r i e s w h e r e F G M i s p r a c t i c e d b u t p r e v a l e n c e i s u n k n o w n - m a y a l s o b e s u r v i v o r s 561,230 H o w m a n y a r e s u r v i v o r s o r a t r i s k? 561,230 women and girls in Australia were born in countries where we know FGM is practiced. However, due to a global lack of data on prevalence, we can not gain any insight into how many of these women and girls currently resident in Australia are likely to be survivors or be at risk of FGM. W e c a l l t h e s e w o m e n " t h e m i s s i n g h a l f m i l l i o n " Without data, and funding to collect and analyse it, we have no idea how many of these women are survivors and how much support they require.

7 F G M I N A U S T R A L I A 4. G i r l s b o r n i n A u s t r a l i a t o " t h e m i s s i n g h a l f m i l l i o n " 12,992 per year 35 girls every day girls are born every year to "the missing half million" (those women who may be survivors of FGM). That s an additional 35 girls per day. These girls may be at risk of FGM There is no way of identifying or safeguarding these girls. 7 12,992

8 5. F G M - A G L O B A L P E R S P E C T I V E U N I C E F e s t i m a t e s t h a t o v e r 200,000,000 w o m e n a n d g i r l s g l o b a l l y a r e s u r v i v o r s o f F G M. A w o r l d w i d e i s s u e There are now 49 countries where FGM is known to be traditionally practiced and this number is growing each year as more communities are identified. However, in a world where migration is growing more common, FGM has become a significant issue for other countries where the diaspora of FGM communities settle. A u s t r a l i a i s p a r t o f a g l o b a l n e t w o r k w o r k i n g t o e r a d i c a t e F G M Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, UK and USA all have strong programs working to support survivors and protect girls from FGM. No FGM Australia is proud to partner with many organisations globally.

9 6. A B O U T T H E F G M P R E V A L E N C E R E P O R T In 2014, No FGM Australia produced the first FGM Prevalence Report for Australia. Using data from the ABS and UNICEF prevalence data, this was a pioneering attempt to quantify the scale of FGM in Australia. In, No FGM Australia has republished the report, using updated figures from UNICEF and other reputable sources where available, as well as updated Australian migration figures and birth-rates. 3 m a i n f a c t o r s d r i v i n g s i g n i f i c a n t l y i n c r e a s e d n u m b e r s : Increased migration from countries previously identified as FGM practicing A global increase in visibility of communities that practice FGM Women from these newly identified practicing countries added to the Australian prevalence data for the first time.

10 7. H O W D I D W E C A L C U L A T E T H E S E S T A T I S T I C S? The process by which this prevalence data was created was the same as was used for the 2014 No FGM Australia Prevalence report. This process is used by many of our international partners to assess the likely prevalence of FGM in their countries We interrogated the migration figures from 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics data set to understand the number of Australian resident women and girls of all age brackets that were born in countries where FGM is known to be practiced. We created a list of known prevalence data from reliable global sources (see appendix for references), This was heavily based on UNICEF published data but also used other sources where UNICEF have not yet published prevalence information for a particular country. We applied the prevalance data (step 2) to the number of women migrants (from step 1) to gain an understanding of the number of women and girls currently in Australia but born overseas who are likely to have had or be at high risk of FGM. Where prevalence data was not available, we took the whole number of women and girls from those countries to understand who may have had or be at high risk of FGM (the 'missing million') We applied Australian birth figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics by age group for women within childbearing age (15 49) to both groups ("survivors" and "the missing million") to estimate how many girls will be born in Australia every day at risk of FGM.

11 8. D A T A S O U R C E S UNICEF PREVALENCE DATA: (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d'ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen) READ.pdf OTHER SOURCES: Malaysia Indonesia: Sri Lanka: COUNTRIES WHERE PREVALENCE DATA IS UNRELIABLE / DOES NOT EXIST: Afganistan, Brunei, Columbia, Ecuador, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Phillipines, Russia (Dagestan), Singapore (Malays), Syria, Thailand, Turkey AUSTRALIAN DATA Migration and birth data: abs.gov.au (resident population, country of birth, age and sex; birth data)

12 9. W H A T D O E S T H I S M E A N F O R A U S T R A L I A? A u s t r a l i a n w o m e n a n d g i r l s n e e d s u p p o r t a n d p r o t e c t i o n f r o m F G M 3,876 per year This is a funding emergency The work that needs to be done in Australia requires significant funding and co-ordination, including: F u n d i n g t o g a t h e r h a r d d a t a This data gives us an indication of the scale of the Australian problem, and it's the best data that exists - because there is no funding or support for programs to gather hard data from Australian women themselves. F u n d i n g t o s u p p o r t s u r v i v o r s This data shows that there are huge numbers of Australian women living with the permanent physical, psychological and sexual impacts of FGM. These women need specialised services - but there is little co-ordinated funding or support for these programs. 12

13 F u n d i n g t o e d u c a t e p r o f e s s i o n a l s This data shows that there are hundreds of thousands of Australian women and girls living with or at risk of FGM. However, many professionals don't learn about FGM and their duty of care reporting requirements (e.g. teachers, health professionals, social services, law and border protection). This requires a fully funded and co-ordinated approach. F u n d i n g t o p r o t e c t c h i l d r e n Thousands of Australian girls are born every year at a high risk of FGM, which is typically done before puberty. As a taboo cultural practice, it can be difficult for community members to know where to turn to get advice if they know a girl is at risk. A fully funded and promoted FGM hotline is required to provide a safety net, advice and referrals to the right professional services. F G M i s i l l e g a l i n e v e r y s t a t e a n d t e r r i t o r y i n A u s t r a l i a. F u n d i n g i s n e e d e d t o e d u c a t e p r o f e s s i o n a l s s o t h a t t h e l a w c a n p r o t e c t A u s t r a l i a n g i r l s ; a n d o u r h e a l t h s e r v i c e s c a n f u l l y s u p p o r t A u s t r a l i a n w o m e n s u r v i v o r s o f F G M.

14 A B O U T N O F G M A U S T R A L I A No FGM Australia is a not-for-profit organisation which aims to protect Australian girls from female genital mutilation, and to support and empower survivors of FGM. We believe that all girls have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their colour, religion or ethnicity. We condemn the practice, and not the people: it is everyone s responsibility to look out for girls who are in danger of violence in the form of female genital mutilation.

15 A u t h o r s o f t h i s r e p o r t : Sybil Williams: Director, No FGM Australia Khadija Gbla: Executive Director, No FGM Australia Paula Ferrari: Managing Director, No FGM Australia With thanks to David Pincus for his work in collating and analysing this data in the 2014 and reports.

16 w w w. n o f g m o z. c o m p a u l n o f g m o z. c o m N O F G M A U S T R A L I A No FGM Australia is a registered Australian charity ( ) established to promote and protect human rights, advance social and public welfare and advance education.