FGM/C Protection Orders
A protection order grants you extra protection against a specific person. An FGM* protection order can help if you:
Believe you are at risk of FGM
Know someone who is at risk of FGM
Have already had FGM committed against you
Orders are designed to protect you based on your individual circumstances. Protections may include prohibiting someone from communicating with you or stopping someone from taking you out of the UK.
You can apply for an FGM protection order for yourself or on behalf of somebody else, but for the latter you will need permission from the court.
Words you need to know:
You - in this article “you” refers to the person applying for, or being protected by, a protection order
Respondent - the person who an order is taken “against”, i.e. who is served the order and who must legally obey to its conditions. This could be an ex-partner, family member, or anybody who has been violent or abusive towards you and/or has threatened violence or abuse.
How does it work?
To apply for a protection order, you need to fill in a form that explains why you need protection. After this you will be asked to attend a court hearing which will happen in private. Special arrangements can be made if you are scared about going to court or about seeing the respondent - more guidance on this can be found here. To be granted an order, a judge will need to agree that you need one.
A protection order may be granted for a number of reasons. For example, in the case of FGM protective orders, this could be because somebody has stated that they intend to take you abroad to be cut, or because somebody is pestering, coercing or pressuring you to be cut.
You can get an emergency order to protect you immediately without the person you’re making the order against being involved in getting the order. An application for a protection order can be made at the same time as a police investigation or other criminal proceedings.
If you need help with your application, contact Citizens Advice or info@thevavengers.co.uk. You can also ask a solicitor to and you might be able to get legal aid to help you through the process.
How does an order help?
It may sound confusing because some of the things that an order protects against are already illegal - such as harassment or threats.
You can think of an order like an added layer of security. In identifying somebody by law as a specific threat to you, they are under harsher scrutiny and should be deterred from causing you further harm.
Breaching an FGM order is a criminal offence and is taken very seriously. If an order states that the respondent cannot come to your house, if they do, they will be arrested.
If a person is found to be in breach of an FGM protection order, they can face up to 5 years in prison.
How is a protection order useful for somebody who has already been subjected to FGM?
If you have already been cut, you may still want to get an FGM protective order. This might be to protect you from somebody who is harassing or abusing you because of what happened to you, or because somebody is trying to stop you from talking about it.
Resources
gov.uk
Disclaimer
This page does not constitute as, nor should it substitute, legal advice. This resource pack intends to simplify information and promote the equalisation of rights-based education. Please note, the information provided on this site applies to England and Wales law and resources are addressed to people who reside in the UK or British citizens. Readers of this page should always refer to GOV.UK when sourcing legal advice for extensive information.
Notes
*To avoid confusion we use “FGM” instead of our usual “FGM/C” in this article because it is the language used by the authorities who grant protection orders.