FINALLY! Gambia Bans Female Genital Mutilation

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In keeping with the acceptable, Gambia makes official moves banning Female Genital Mutilation, the Vanguard reports. The practice, which involves the removal of the external genitalia, causes numerous health problems which can be fatal.

According to the United Nations Children Education Fund, UNICEF, three-quarters of women in the mostly Muslim country of Gambia have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). It is therefore a relief that the country’s president, Yahya Jammeh, has declared a ban on the practice “with immediate effect.’’

The country’s Information Minister Sheriff Bojang made the declaration public in a statement issued on Tuesday. Bojang said the president declared the ban on the sideline of his nationwide tour.
Reportedly, seven out of nine ethnic groups in Gambia carry out FGM, an ancient ritual which is shrouded in secrecy and widely condemned elsewhere as a serious violation of women’s rights.

In their reaction to the development, anti-FGM campaigners said it was not clear when a law would be passed to enable the ban to be enforced. They opined that a law was needed to “save countless lives” in the West African nation where three-quarters of women have been cut. Anti-FGM activist, Jaha Dukureh says,

“President Jammeh’s declaration sends a clear message to the world, but enacting a law urgently will send an even stronger signal.”

FGM, also known as female circumcision, can be extremely painful, lead to tetanus, gangrene, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C and effective sterilisation. It affects an estimated 140 million girls and women across a swathe of Africa and parts of the Middle East and Asia, and is seen by many families as a gateway to marriage and a way of preserving a girl’s virginity. Uncut girls are often ostracized.

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More than 1,000 communities and 150 cutters in the Gambia have abandoned FGM in four mass declarations since 2007, according to Isatou Touray, Gambia’s highest-profile campaigner against FGM. Touray who has faced death threats during some 25 years of activism says,

“The whole country has been calling for change and for a law – we are moving towards zero tolerance of FGM.”