The next step to fighting FGM is targeting the women ‘surgeons’ – they need to understand the terrible consequences of being cut

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Although there has been progress in recent years in raising awareness about FGM, the next step is directly addressing the “surgeons” – the perpetrators – of this practice, and teach them why they should say “no” in future. That was a great initiative, but the effort to stop FGM should go beyond encouraging women and girls to say “no” to it. Many of these “surgeons” may have been doing the job for several years, but I bet you that a great number of them may not have known or believed that their victims would suffer pain beyond the physical pain of the knife. After having made the perpetrators of FGM see the long-term consequences of their actions, they would be able to say “no” to anyone who approaches them to mutilate their child.