Dr Charlotte Proudman of Goldsmith Chambers and Karon Monaghan QC of Matrix Chambers represented the mother in an application for a Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order before the President of the Family Division

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In the matter of Re A (A Child: Female Genital Mutilation: Asylum [2019] EWHC 2475, Dr Charlotte Proudman of Goldsmith Chambers and Karon Monaghan QC of Matrix Chambers represented the mother in an application before an Female Genital Mutilation Protection Order before the President of the Family Division. The case concerned a girl age 10 of Sudanese origin with Bahraini citizenship. The mother applied for asylum on behalf of the girl, claiming a risk of FGM for the girl. The mother was cut as a child suffering type III FGM, the most physically invasive type of FGM and she claims her two sisters died as a result of FGM. The mother’s appeal was refused by the Home Office and the Immigration Tribunals and she is now appeal rights exhausted. The family were served with removal directions. Social Services applied for a FGMPO due to concern that the girl would be cut if deported to Sudan or Bahrain. The court granted an injunction against the Home Secretary, prohibiting the removal of the girl from the jurisdiction. The case was transferred to the President of the Family Division; the court concluded that the family court does not have jurisdiction to make an injunction against the Home Secretary. The mother had argued that FGM constitutes Article 3 ECHR and therefore the court ought to have power to restrain the Home Secretary from removing a child at risk of FGM from the jurisdiction. 

More can be read about the case on bailiifamily law week and the guardian


Related barristers: Dr Charlotte Proudman


 

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