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BANJUL (Reuters) – Gambia’s parliament is due to vote on Monday on a proposal to repeal the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM), which if approved would be a rare step backwards in efforts to criminalize this practice.
The small West African country banned female genital mutilation in 2015, imposing heavy fines and prison sentences on those engaging in the act which, according to the World Health Organization, has no health benefits and can instead lead to excessive bleeding, shock, psychological problems, or even death.
Despite the progress made on the legal level, Unicef noted in a report published earlier this month that the number of women and girls having undergone genital mutilation in the world has increased from 200 million eight years ago to 230 million today.
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Excision is practiced in 92 countries, including 51 which criminalize it, according to the association Equality Now.
The Gambia’s ban on genital mutilation, adopted under former President Yahya Jammeh, has faced resistance in the predominantly Muslim country, particularly since President Adama Barrow came to power in 2017.
Last August, three women were fined for performing FGM on eight girls, the first people to be convicted by law.
The Gambia’s Islamic Supreme Council reacted to the ruling by saying that female circumcision was one of the virtues of Islam and called on the government to reconsider the ban.
MP Almameh Gibba presented the bill earlier this month, arguing that the law violates citizens’ rights to practice their culture and religion.
It was not immediately possible to determine what the outcome of the vote would be.
Adama Barrow has not spoken publicly on the issue.
Nearly 180 Gambian civil society organizations published an open letter last October calling on the government to preserve the law.
“Repealing the law against female genital mutilation would reverse the considerable progress made in protecting the rights and well-being of women and girls,” they said.
(Reporting Pap Saine, written by Aaron Ross; French version Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Kate Entringer)
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