The Gambian government is discussing lifting the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in March 2024. Some Gambian members of parliament believe that declaring the practice illegal is an attack on cultural and religious freedom.
Former president Yahya Jammeh imposed the ban in 2015. He said it was not required in Islam. In 1999, however, President Jammeh announced that The Gambia would not ban these practices. He also stated that FGM/FGC was part of Gambian culture. Several members of the National Assembly and the Supreme Islamic Council have publicly supported continuation of FGM/FGC.
Under the current law in the Gambia, a person convicted of performing FGM faces up to three years in prison, a fine of 50,000 dalasi (£622), or both, the guardian.org reported. Where FGM leads to death, the perpetrator could face life imprisonment.
A part of the reason that calls to repeal the law have gained any kind of traction is that not enough was done to ‘get people on board’ with the law when it was being passed.
The rate of FGM in country ‘is around 76 per cent in the 14 to 49 year age range, and about 51 per cent for girls up to the age of 14. Type I (commonly referred to as clitoridectomy) and Type II (commonly referred to as excision) are the most common forms of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting (FGC) widely practiced in The Gambia. Type III (commonly referred to as infibulation) is practiced among only a small percentage of women and girls. Type IV (described in The Gambia as vaginal sealing) is also practiced. These practices are rooted in tradition and custom and cross ethnic, religious and cultural boundaries. Seven of The Gambia’s nine ethnic groups practice one of these forms. Nearly all Mandinkas, Jolas and Hausas (together 52 percent of the population) practice Type II on girls between 10 years and 15 years of age. The Sarahulis (nine percent of the population) practice Type I on girls one week after birth. The Bambaras (one percent of population) practice Type III, which takes place when girls are between 10 years and 15 years of age. The Fulas (18 percent of the population) engage in a practice analogous to Type III that is described as “vaginal sealing” or Type IV on girls anywhere between one week and 18 years of age. Of those who have undergone any of these procedures, twenty percent are below the age of five and fifty percent are between the ages of five and eighteen, with the average being approximately age twelve. The urbanized areas of the western division have a high concentration of ethnic Wolofs who do not practice any of these procedures.
The Wolofs, Akus, Sereres and Manjangos (together 16 percent of the population) generally do not practice any of these forms. However, if a woman marries a member of an ethnic group that engages in this practice, she may be forced to undergo the procedure prior to marriage.
The Gambia joined The Maputo Protocol that is based on the CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). But it makes it appropriate for the African continent because it mentions culture’,. The protocol makes it quite clear that religious values are not used as a smokescreen. It says that culture is a positive thing but that we must eliminate harmful practices.
Today influential Muslim clerics have been pushing for the ban to be repealed, while women’s rights activists have vowed to campaign for it to remain in place. Leaders like Imam Abdoullie Fatty defend the practice: “The Gambian constitution should take precedence over any other law or protocol. The West should stop imposing issues on us that could create instability in this country. We cannot allow them to arrest and imprison our mothers and our grandmothers because they practice their religious rights and cultural beliefs. Our position therefore is that the law must be repealed for peace to reign in The Gambia. Last year, the cleric helped pay the fines of three women who were convicted of carrying out FGM on young girls. The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council, the main body of Muslim clerics in the country, called for the ban to be scrapped. There are different views in Islam over the practice, with some leading scholars, like those in Egypt, opposing it.The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council issued a fatwa declaring FGM ‘not just a merely inherited custom’ but ‘one of the virtues of Islam’, while members of the country’s unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, called for the 2015 law that banned the practice to be repealed.
Almost all of the Gambian population are Muslim and those seeking to repeal the law argue that FGM is a key cultural practice. It’s certainly widespread. The bill sponsor Almameh Gibba is among those in the country who firmly believe that FGM is not only cultural but a religious rite as well.
In a National Assembly session in September 2023, support arose for Sulayman Saho, a National Assembly Member advocating for the repeal of the 2015 law banning FGM. This support was backed by many political and religious leaders actively working for the decriminalization of FGM, with Parliament and the Supreme Islamic Council in Gambia openly supporting the practice. Saho’s remarks coincided with tensions between Islamic leaders, led by Imam Abdoulie Fatty. Saho emphasized the need to examine both the legal and cultural aspects surrounding FGM. Political figures such as Saho and many others believe FGM decriminalization in Gambia preserves cultural and traditional practices that infringe on their rights of personal choice.
A Symposium for Religious Leaders and Medical Personnel on FGM as a Form of Violence was organized by GAMCOTRAP. This resulted in the Banjul Declaration of July 22, 1998, which declared that the practice has neither Islamic nor Christian origins or justifications and condemned its continuation.
The government’s stance on this practice is unclear. In recent years, the government has publicly supported efforts to eradicate this practice and to discourage it through health education. Although the government recognized that the physical aspects of certain social and cultural practices present health risks and that medical research has documented the health risks of this practice, the government’s primary concern was that the issue be addressed with all due sensitivity. At one time an article in the government’s newspaper indicated that it supported the eradication of this practice and supported non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) efforts that proceed in “a gradual, convincing and tactful manner.”
In Fiscal Year 1999, the U.S. Embassy, through its Self-Help Program, provided over US$10,000 to GAMCOTRAP to aid its program objectives to eliminate harmful traditional practices such as FGM/FGC.
One of the results of the extensive outreach efforts in the country has been that the topic is now an issue that concerned Gambians are willing to address publicly. Articles regularly appear in the local papers and opposing views on the subject are debated in editorials and letters to the editors. This is a beginning. At the same time, it is too early to document any decline in the practice.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is clear in stating the serious health risks associated with FGM.
Breaking the law means heavy fines and prison sentences for perpetrators. A second reading of the bill for the decriminalization of FGM is scheduled for March 18, 2024, in the Gambian Parliament.
The National Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned about a public notice from the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, published in various newspapers on 6th February, regarding the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024, a Private Members Bill, which seeks to repeal the Women’s (Amendment) Act 2015 that prohibits the practice of FGM/C in The Gambia.
The Commission considers FGM/C as not just a health issue but also as a violation of the fundamental rights of women and girls, in particular the rights to life, health, bodily integrity, and protection from all forms of discrimination and violence. The World Health Organisation, UNICEF and national research conducted in-country have also revealed the profound health impact of FGM/C on our women and girls. Thus, this proposed Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024 is an attempt to roll back many years of advocacy, awareness raising and struggle by women’s rights organisations and defenders which led to the eventual legal prohibition of FGM/C in the country.
While the Commission recognises that FGM/C is a complex and emotive issue and people have the right to practice their culture and religion, it is universally accepted that these rights are not absolute and cannot be invoked to violate human rights. As a party to several international and regional conventions and treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Maputo Protocol, The Gambia is therefore obliged to safeguard the fundamental rights of women and girls from harmful traditional practices. The repeal of the Women’s (Amendment) Act 2015 would be a serious derogation from the Gambia’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of women and girls.
The Commission will continue to engage the relevant Government Ministries with remit to protect the rights and wellbeing of women and children on this matter. We have also written to all the Political Party Leaders with representatives in the National Assembly, and reiterated their duty to advance the rights of women and girls and solicited their support to ensure that their “National Assembly Members do not vote for the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024.”
More on this story: The President Barrow demonstrates a U-turn to the dictatorship in the Gambia
The Commission wishes to again remind the Government of its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women and girls, to vigorously enforce the Women’s (Amendment) Act 2015, to put in place educational and other measures towards the full abandonment of FGM/C in the country and implement the 2022 Concluding Observations of the 6th CEDAW Periodic Report.
More on this story: Life of women in Afghanistan: traditions vs external expansion
