Female circumcision and mutilation remain banned in Gambia despite pressure from proclaimed upholders of tradition: Parliament rejected on Monday a bill that would have lifted the ban on these practices in force since 2015.
The deputies rejected all the amendments proposed to the 2015 text, which would have decriminalized the practice.
Human rights groups and the UN had urged lawmakers to reject the bill, saying it threatened years of progress and would have made Gambia the first country to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).
“I declare that the bill is rejected and that the legislative process is exhausted,” said the president of the National Assembly, Fabakary Tombong Jatta.
The bill that has been before Parliament since March has deeply divided the Muslim-majority country.
The text presented by MP Almameh Gibba affirmed that excision is a deeply rooted cultural and religious practice. But anti-FGM campaigners and the United Nations say it is a human rights violation.
FGM includes the partial or total removal of the clitoris (excision), or more broadly of the external genitalia, or any other injury to the genitals.
Apart from pain and trauma, they can have other serious consequences: infections, bleeding, and later infertility and complications in childbirth.
The Gambia is one of the 10 countries with the highest rate of FGM: 73% women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone this practice, according to figures from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for 2024 .
– “Serve as an example” –
"This vote is a significant victory for women and girls in Gambia," Divya Srinivasan of women's rights group Equality Now told AFP. "We hope this decision will set an example for the region and the continent as a whole."
The adoption of the 2015 law “was an important step in the country’s efforts to protect the rights of girls and women,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director. “It was essential that we protect this progress.”
Amnesty, however, is urging the government to do more to enforce the law and address the "root causes of the problem" of FGM.
A United Nations report from March indicates that more than 230 million girls and women worldwide have survived the practice.
Several UN agencies including UNICEF, WHO, UN Women, the Population Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the rejection of the text on Monday, which "reaffirms (Gambia's) commitments to human rights, gender equality, protection of the health and well-being of girls and women," in a joint statement.
They warn that "the fragility of progress in ending FGM cannot be overstated", especially as "assaults on the rights of women and children in several countries have shown that hard-won gains are at risk".
– “Female circumcision” –
A parliamentary committee had paved the way for Monday's vote.
Its report said repealing the ban would “expose women and girls to serious health risks and violate their rights to physical and mental well-being.”
The commission said it had interviewed Muslim scholars who confirmed that these practices were not desired by Islam, contrary to what supporters of the repeal claimed. MEPs approved the report last week.
Former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh (1994-2017), now in exile, banned FGM in 2015, saying it was outdated and not a requirement of Islam. That same year, parliament passed the first law specifically banning the practice, which is now punishable by up to three years in prison.
In reality, FGM has not been eradicated in The Gambia.
The recent row erupted in 2023 when three women were fined or sentenced to prison for performing female genital mutilation.
An Islamic cleric paid the fines and the Gambia's Supreme Islamic Council, the main Muslim organization, issued a fatwa confirming the legality of "female circumcision." The Council said that “female circumcision” was not only an ancestral custom, but also “one of the virtues of Islam”.
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