Gambia upholds its ban on female genital cutting. Reversing it would have been a global first

BANJUL, Gambia -- Lawmakers in the West African nation of Gambia on Monday rejected a bill that would have overturned a ban on female genital cutting. The attempt to become the first country in the world to reverse such a ban had been closely followed by activists abroad.

The vote followed months of heated debate in the largely Muslim nation of less than 3 million people. Lawmakers effectively killed the bill by rejecting all its clauses and preventing a final vote.

The procedure, also called female genital mutilation, includes the partial or full removal of girls' 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.

Activists and human rights groups were worried that a reversal of the ban in Gambia would overturn years of work against the centuries-old practice that's often performed on girls younger than 5 and rooted in the concepts of sexual purity and control.

Religious conservatives who led the campaign to reverse the ban argued the practice was “one of the virtues of Islam.”

In March, the majority of lawmakers voted to advance the bill, prompting fears that the ban would be overturned. But attitudes changed as rights activists campaigned and as doctors, religious figures and others testified for the health committee about the consequences of the practice.

“It's such a huge sense of relief,” one activist and survivor, Absa Samba, said after the vote, as she celebrated with others in front of parliament. “But I believe this is just the beginning of the work.”

Fatou Baldeh, another activist and survivor, said she woke up that morning crying.

“Why have we been put through this for 11 months?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Why have we been forced to relive our traumas? Just because men didn’t believe that female genital cutting harmed us.”

She added: “And right now, girls are still being cut. I hope this time it is not just a law for decoration.”

In Gambia, more than half of women and girls ages 15 to 49 have undergone the procedure, according to United Nations estimates. Former leader Yahya Jammeh unexpectedly banned the practice in 2015 without further explanation. But activists say enforcement has been weak and women have continued to be cut.

The first prosecutions occurred last year, when three women were convicted for bringing their daughters to be cut and performing the practice. The cases sparked a public debate, and some said the prosecutions inspired the attempt to reverse the ban.

Gambia’s Islamic body in 2023 issued a fatwa, recommending the lifting of the ban of what they defined as “female circumcision,” as opposed to female genital mutilation or cutting. Following Monday’s vote, top members of the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council (GSIC) declined to comment.

The outspoken Imam Abdoulai Fatty, who spearheaded the push to overturn the ban, called out parliamentarians and activists who fought against the bill.

“There are 35 MPs that put a halt to efforts to lift the FGM ban,” Fatty said. “They acted against the interest of Gambians. We are our votes. Let’s wait for the election to make our voice heard.”

UNICEF earlier this year said some 30 million women globally have undergone female genital cutting in the past eight years, most of them in Africa but others in Asia and the Middle East.

More than 80 countries have laws prohibiting the procedure or allowing it to be prosecuted, according to a World Bank study cited earlier this year by the United Nations Population Fund. They include South Africa, Iran, India and Ethiopia.

“No religious text promotes or condones female genital mutilation,” the UNFPA report said, adding there is no benefit to it.

Long term, the practice can lead to urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, pain, decreased sexual satisfaction and childbirth complications as well as depression, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress disorder.

UNICEF and WHO issued a joint statement on Monday evening, commending Gambia on the vote which reaffirmed “its commitments to human rights, gender equality, and protecting the health and well-being of girls and women.”

But, it added, legislative bans are not enough to stop female genital cutting, a practice that “can inflict severe immediate and long-term physical and psychological damage, including infection, later childbearing complications, and post-traumatic stress disorder."

The organizations emphasized the need for continued advocacy, working with communities and local leaders, as well as training health workers, “to advance gender equality, end violence against girls and women, and secure the gains made to accelerate progress to end FGM.”

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Abdoulie John contributed reporting from Banjul, Gambia.