Sky News urged to drop segment showing victim of female genital mutilation being cut in Somalia

Campaigner Leyla Hussein says in the footage 'no one intervenes … when I was cut I remember that most of all, no one intervened'

Young girls in Somalia. An estimated 98 per cent of women and girls aged 15-49 in the country have been cut (Getty Images)

A campaigner has urged Sky News to drop a segment which shows the face of a girl as she undergoes female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia.

Leyla Hussein, the co-founder of anti-FGM campaign Daughters of Eve, said she had been asked to appeared on the television channel for an interview following the report about the prevalence of the practice in Somalia.

Bu Ms Hussein asked to see the footage beforehand and said she saw “a little girl of about six or seven, being held down and cut”,

She said: “You can see her face.

“People are watching. The film crew are filming. No one intervenes … when I was cut I remember that most of all, no one intervened.”

FGM - which is also known as female circumcision - is where girls have their external genitalia either partially or totally removed with a small hole left for urination and sexual intercourse.

Unicef estimates that 200m women have undergone the procedure - which is done for cultural rather than religious reasons and has no health benefits - in 27 countries in Africa as well as parts of Asia and the Middle East.

In Somalia and surrounding countries the rate of women between 15-49 who have been cut is estimated at around 98 per cent - the highest in the world.

Ms Hussein said she refused to take part in the report when she saw the footage of the girl - saying she was around the same age when she was cut.

Leyla Hussein said although she had used images of FGM she thinks they need to protect children first and foremost (Getty Images) (Getty)

She said she asked Sky News not to use the clip as part of the story which was scheduled to be broadcast on Monday evening which the Guardian reports has now been delayed.

The campaigner said she had been guilty of showing images of the abuse herself in the past to get people to pay attention but “had time to think”.

“We are supposed to be protecting children. How is this protecting children?”, she said.

Now several other anti-FGM campaigners, including charity Equality Now, have joined Ms Hussein’s plea, saying the such a segment could be harmful and stigmatising to FGM victims in the UK and Somalia.

Dr Comfort Momoh, an FGM specialist at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals, told the Guardian victims had been contacting her about the clip: “They are unanimous. They want the clip to be withdrawn.

“For them it is about consent. Some of them are very angry.

“One can argue that there is a place for showing these kind of images, for training and to show the extent of damage and give an insight but this isn’t it.

“You have to listen to the survivors. It is their story and we have to go by how they want that story to be told.”

A Sky News spokesman told the newspaper: “This week Sky News will broadcast a powerful report from Somalia which sheds new light on the subject of FGM.”

He said the report treated the subject sensitively and “captures the stark reality of this widespread practice.

“(It) will help our viewers to understand the issues surrounding FGM and its social and cultural acceptability in some parts of the world”.