Leading QC Alex Carlile hopes to force wider scrutiny of the practice after Guardian revealed ‘dozens’ of girls subjected to abusive custom

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A British peer is to table questions in parliament on the secretive practice of “breast-ironing”, after the Guardian revealed that the abusive intervention is spreading in the UK.

Alex Carlile, one of the UK’s leading QCs who is a former deputy high court judge and a member of the House of Lords, told the Guardian that he hoped to trigger a wider scrutiny of the practice in the UK.

“I hope that my parliamentary questions will lead to the UK authorities taking a close interest in these distressing cases, with a view to prosecution of those involved in what is a dreadful and abusive practice,” he said.

Breast-ironing: ‘the whole community needs an education’ Read more

His intervention came after the Guardian revealed anecdotal evidence of dozens of recent cases of the practice, in which a girl’s chest is “ironed” with a hot stone to delay breast formation.

The perpetrators, usually mothers, consider the practice a traditional measure that protects girls from unwanted male attention, sexual harassment and rape. Medical experts and victims regard it as child abuse that could lead to physical and psychological scars, infections, inability to breastfeed, deformities and breast cancer.

Community workers in London, Yorkshire, Essex and the West Midlands have all reported cases, but the custom, which originates in west Africa, is extremely secretive and there is no official data on how widespread it is. One activist who was a victim in childhood, Margaret Nyuydzewira, has estimated that at least 1,000 women and girls have been subjected to the intervention. There has been no systematic study or formal data collection exercise.

The government has said in the past that it is “absolutely committed” to stamping out the practice, but little action appears to have been taken.

Helen Porter, executive member of the National Education Union, who has spoken out about breast-ironing at teachers’ conferences, said educators “may be the people who are best able to report it”.

“They might notice changes in unwillingness to change for PE, or they might notice someone in discomfort when they are raising their hand. They might notice a child becoming more withdrawn,” she said.

As such, there is a need for more training and more discussions about the practice, Porter said.