Gambia's attempt to unban female genital mutilation postponed for more consultation

• Gambia will not unban female genital mutilation for at least another three months. 
• Parliamentarians this week voted to send the bill back to a parliamentary committee for further consultations.
• The UN says 76% of Gambian females aged 15 to 49 have undergone female genital mutilations.

Women's rights groups breathed a sigh of relief in Gambia on Monday when its Parliament delayed an attempt to reintroduce female genital mutilation (FGM).

Instead of approving a law to unban FGM, as had been feared, lawmakers sent it back to the committee stage for further consultations.

The Gambian Parliament comprises 58 lawmakers, of whom five are women. 

The vote on the Women's Amendment Act of 2015 was 42 to four to send the proposed changes to a parliamentary committee for review.

Jaha Dukureh, the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, an anti-FGM organisation, said that gave them extra time to fight and block the return of FGM.

After three months, the bill must, with or without amendments, be sent back to the National Assembly for a vote.

If the bill is passed, Gambia would become the first country ever to outlaw FGM, then reintroduce it.

The FGM process

Dukureh survived the process as a child, but her sister was unfortunate; she bled to death.

"I am here as an FGM survivor. I went through FGM when I was one week old. I was sealed, and I was unsealed on my marriage night. 

"When my father married his third wife, his daughter went through FGM, and she bled to death. This is why I do this advocacy," she said.

There are four main types of FGM:

Women's rights and religion

Dukureh told journalists if FGM was reintroduced, it could mark a return of an array of laws that suppressed women's rights under the marriage institution and also legalised domestic violence.

She said:

The bill that seeks to repeal the Women's Amendment Act claimed to "uphold religious purity and safeguard cultural norms and values".

The legislator who pushed for the revitalisation of FGM, Almameh Gibba, argued the 2015 Women's Amendment Act violated Muslims' rights to "practice their culture and religion".

But Dukureh insisted it had nothing to do with religion but everything to do with "the cycle of controlling women and their bodies".

ALSO READ | Gambian parliament in vote to lift ban on female genital mutilation

According to UNICEF's 2021 report, 76% of Gambian females aged 15 to 49 have undergone FGM.

In countries where it is practised, the UN Population Fund estimates more than 230 million girls and women have undergone some form of FGM.

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