Australia on FGM

From: Bronwyn.Naylor@law.monash.edu.au (BRONWYN NAYLOR)

[excerpt]

FGM has been specifically criminalised in Australia - in NSW in 1994, in South Australia in 1995, and in Victoria in 1996 (s.32 Crimes Act). Consent is expressly not a defence.

The NSW offence applies where the operation is performed on a person ordinarily resident in NSW, wherever the operation is actually performed. The Victorian legislation creates a separate offence s.33) of taking or arranging to take a person from the State in order to have FGM performed. I believe the SA approach is similar.

The Model Criminal Code proposed at the federal level includes the criminal offence of FGM, with a prohibition on removal of a child for purposes of performing FGM. This part of the Code is still under discussion.

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