The Central Unit for Victim Attention and Monitoring confirmed that six of the minors attended could have been victims of the practice if they traveled to their country of origin, and two other girls had already suffered it before arriving. Detection is complex, as victims are usually minors and sexuality is a taboo subject in many cultures.
According to Judith Avellaneda, from the unit, most alerts are activated thanks to the FGM protocol network, which includes educational centers, primary care, and, above all, social services. Of the eight cases handled in 2025, six were detected thanks to this preventive work, with four identified directly by social services.
“"Many times the children do not even know what it is, or what they are going to do to them; they are unaware that they will suffer a crime."
Facing an imminent travel risk, the protocol requires the health professional to request a written commitment from the parents against mutilation. In more serious cases, the court may apply precautionary measures such as passport withdrawal or prohibition from leaving the country until the age of majority. The average age of those attended in 2025 was eleven years old.
Despite a slight decrease compared to 2023 (13 cases) and 2024 (12 cases), the Mossos insist that the problem persists due to constant migratory processes. The territorial distribution of the eight cases in 2025 was: four in the Northern Metropolitan Police Region, two in Ponent, one in the South, and one in the Girona region.
