Child protection groups vowed on Tuesday to drive more awareness around the dangers of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after the Gambia rejected a bill seeking to end a ban following a campaign involving Save the Children’s partner the Child Protection Alliance.
The bill, if passed, would have overturned a 2015 ban on the harmful practice, which was one of the few legal protections for women and girls in the West African country. The Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, faced by 73% of women and girls aged 15 to 49.
Since a debate on the reversal of the law began in March, Save the Children had supported a call to stop the proposed amendment by the Child Protection Alliance (CPA), a group of about 50 UN agencies, bilateral institutions, INGOs, civil society organisations, youth groups, and government departments. Their actions included taking a lead in drawing up a legal argument on behalf of civil society to maintain the law and taking part in consultations with the National Assembly on the bill’s potential impact.
The CPA also ran discussions with two influential religious leaders to raise awareness among communities and parliamentarians of the bill and led a joint public statement calling for the law to be maintained and highlighting the risks of repealing it.
Emilie Fernandes, Country Director for Save the Children in Senegal said:
“This is a win for the Gambian girls and women. Harmful practices like FGM must never be allowed. Even now, FGM continues to rob young girls of their childhood. It’s a gross violation of the rights of girls and young women to health, protection, and bodily integrity, and should be viewed as an extreme form of violence against women and girls.
“In response to this regressive bill, Save the Children and its partners used a holistic approach to advocate against the legislative change while also working to challenge and shift social norms that sustain and perpetuate the practice.
“The Gambia must now respect its international obligations, particularly the African Union’s Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights, which the country ratified in 2005. All organisations working on women/girls’ rights must be supported to continue their work to ensure the law is enforced at the community level.”
The Joining Forces Alliance, of which Save the Children is a member, also issued a statement in response to this bill.
Lamin Fatty, the National Coordinator for the Child Protection Alliance, said:
“It has been 11 months of extensive work, ever since the introduction of the Private Member Bill to repeal the Women’s Amendment Act of 2015. The decision of the National Assembly to reject the Bill is a victory for women and girls in The Gambia. However, there remains a greater need to strengthen efforts towards creating more awareness around the harmful effects of FGM on women and girls, and engage more with law enforcement agencies for the effective enforcement of the law.”
Save the Children will continue to engage local communications channels and work with local influencers and also religious leaders on the ban on FGM and continue to support our partners like CPA to ensure that the law is enforced at the community level.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.