Protesters against female genital mutilation hold placards outside the National Assembly in Banjul during a parliamentary debate on a highly controversial Bill seeking to lift the ban on the practice. Photograph: Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP via Getty ImagesGambian lawmakers have voted to advance a measure revoking a ban on female genital mutilation by removing legal protections for millions of girls, raising fears that other countries could follow suit.
Anti-FGM campaigners gathered outside parliament in Banjul, The Gambia’s capital, on Monday morning, but police set up barricades and prevented many from getting inside – while allowing in the religious leaders who advocate FGM and their supporters, according to Fatou Baldeh, one of The Gambia’s leading opponents of FGM.
Worldwide, FGM is increasing despite campaigns to stop it – mainly because of population growth in the countries where it is common. More than 230 million women and girls have undergone it, according to Unicef – an increase of 30 million people since the last time the agency made an estimate in 2016.
The new law was welcomed as a watershed moment in The Gambia, where three-quarters of women and girls are subjected to FGM. But the law was not enforced, and this emboldened imams who are “hell-bent on having a theocratic state” to try to repeal it, according to Joof.
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