Gambian Parliament Upholds Historic Ban on Female Genital Mutilation

Wisdom C. Nwoga

Gambia’s parliament has voted to uphold the landmark law banning female genital mutilation (FGM) in the largely Muslim nation, despite efforts by religious groups to repeal the legislation. If Monday’s bid had succeeded, Gambia would have been the first country in the world to relegalize FGM after previously criminalizing it.

MP Amadou Camara, who chairs a joint health and gender committee, told CNN that none of the clauses in the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024 seeking to repeal the FGM ban were passed. Parliament Speaker Fabakary Jatta ruled that it was "impossible" for the bill to proceed without those clauses. He stated, "I so rule that the bill is rejected, and the legislative process exhausted," during Monday's plenary meeting.

FGM was banned in Gambia in 2015 by former president Yahya Jammeh, who imposed fines and prison sentences of up to three years for those who engaged in the practice. Pro-Islamic groups and lawmakers have pushed back against the criminalization, arguing that female circumcision is "one of the virtues of Islam." Opposition leader and former interior minister Mai Ahmad Fatty also defended the practice, claiming, "There is no FGM in Gambia. We circumcise, not mutilate."

Amnesty International described efforts to revoke the FGM ban as a "backward move" for human rights protection in the country. According to the United Nations, 73% of Gambian women aged 15 to 49 had experienced FGM as of 2020, with more than 65% subjected to the practice before the age of five. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his outrage on Women’s Day in March, calling FGM a "horrific" practice.

Despite the ban, FGM continues in parts of the country. Last year, three women were convicted of performing FGM on eight female minors and were fined around 15,000 Gambian Dalasi ($220) each or faced a one-year jail sentence. The fines were paid by an Islamic cleric. In 2016, two women faced charges after a 5-month-old girl died from genital mutilation.