MPs vote to kill the Girls’s (Modification) Invoice 2024, which had sought to decriminalise the observe of feminine circumcision.
Gambian lawmakers have voted to uphold a 2015 ban on feminine genital mutilation (FGM), rejecting a controversial bill seeking to overturn the law, after months of heated debate and worldwide strain.
The Girls’s (Modification) Invoice 2024, which had sought to decriminalise the observe of feminine circumcision, had handed a second studying in March with solely 5 out of 53 lawmakers voting towards it, elevating considerations amongst rights teams that The Gambia would develop into the primary nation to reverse a ban on the observe.
The invoice has deeply dividing public opinion within the Muslim-majority West African nation.
The textual content of the invoice, launched by MP Almameh Gibba, declared that “feminine circumcision” is a deep-rooted cultural and spiritual observe, however anti-FGM campaigners and worldwide rights teams stated it’s a harmful violation against women and girls.
The landmark 2015 ban on FGM made the observe punishable by as much as three years in jail.
Lawmakers on Monday voted once more on every of the invoice’s clauses earlier than a 3rd and ultimate studying scheduled for July 24, with a majority voting towards every clause.
That prompted Nationwide Meeting Speaker Fabakary Tombong Jatta to cease the invoice transferring ahead to the ultimate studying.
“The [National] Meeting can’t be engaged in such a futile train as to permit the invoice to proceed to a 3rd studying,” Jatta stated after the votes.
“The invoice is rejected and the legislative course of exhausted.”
Desk banging could possibly be heard within the packed parliamentary chamber as MPs rejected every of the 4 clauses.
The World Well being Group says FGM has no well being advantages and might result in extreme bleeding, shock, psychological issues and even loss of life.
FGM entails the partial or whole removing of the feminine exterior genitalia or different damage to the feminine genital organs, and might result in critical well being issues together with infections, bleeding, infertility and issues in childbirth.
The Gambia is among the many 10 nations with the very best charges of FGM, with 73 % of ladies and ladies aged 15 to 49 having undergone the process, based on 2024 figures from UNICEF.
A UN report from March stated that greater than 230 million women and girls worldwide are survivors of the observe.