Lawmakers reject effort to reverse ban on female genital cutting
LAWMAKERS IN Gambia on Monday rejected, for now, an attempt to repeal a ban on female genital cutting, which would make the West African nation the first country anywhere to make that reversal.
Activists in the largely Muslim country had warned that lifting the ban would hurt years of work against a procedure often performed on girls under five in the mistaken belief that it would control their sexuality. Lawmakers referred the bill to a committee for further discussion, and it could return for another vote within weeks.
The procedure, which also has been called female genital mutilation, includes the partial or full removal of external genitalia, often by traditional community practitioners with tools such as razor blades or at times by health workers. It can cause serious bleeding, death, and childbirth complications but remains a widespread practice in parts of Africa.
Jaha Dukureh, the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, a local group that aims to end the practice, told The Associated Press that she worried that other laws safeguarding women’s rights could be repealed next. Dukureh underwent the procedure and watched her sister bleed to death.
“If they succeed with this repeal, we know that they might come after the child-marriage law and even the domesticviolence law. This is not about religion but the cycle of controlling women and their bodies,” she said. The United Nations has estimated that more than half of women and girls ages 15 to 49 in Gambia have undergone the procedure.
The bill is backed by religious conservatives in the nation of less than three million people. Its text says that “it seeks to uphold religious purity and safeguard cultural norms and values”. The country’s top Islamic body has called the practice “one of the virtues of Islam”.
Gambia’s former leader, Yahya Jammeh, banned the practice in 2015 in a surprise to activists and with no public explanation. Since the law took effect, enforcement has been weak, with only two cases prosecuted.
On Monday, a crowd of men and women gathered outside Gambia’s parliament, some carrying signs protesting the bill. Police in riot gear held them back.
Gambia’s parliament of 58 lawmakers includes five women. If the bill eventually passes through parliament, President Adama Barrow is expected to sign it into law. He has not spoken publicly about the legislation.
The United States has supported activists who are trying to stop the practice. Earlier this month, it honoured Gambian activist Fatou Baldeh at the White House with an International Women of Courage Award.