Gamgia; Weath of an Infant Sets Pff New Debate Ove FGM

The Price of Control: Death of an Infant Sets Off New Debate over FGM in Gambia The Gambia Earlier this month, a one-month-old baby girl, bleeding heavily, was rushed to the hospital in the Gambian capital of Banjul, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She had undergone a procedure known as female genital mutilation (FGM). The death set off outrage in the West African country, where the practice was banned a decade ago but remains widespread. “That incident is more than just a case, it is a national wake-up call,” said Emmanuel Joof, chair of Gambia’s National Human Rights Commission, at a recent public event. “It is a reminder that FGM is not simply a ‘cultural practice’ – it is a criminal offence, a human rights violation, and in some cases, like this one, it is deadly.” To date, three women have been charged in the case, the first charges related to FGM since the country attempted to reverse the ban on the practice last year. One of the suspects faces life imprisonment, while the other two were charged as accomplices and face fines and jail time. FGM is the deliberate cutting or removal of a female’s external genitalia, usually for religious and social reasons: Researchers say it is a way to control females and preserve their virginity to make them more “marriageable.” Some practitioners argue it also prevents health problems later on in life, an assertion strongly disputed by medical professionals. Usually, it is performed by older women in the community or traditional healers, often in unsanitary conditions with rough tools such as razor blades. As a result, it can result in serious bleeding, infections, lifelong pain, complications in childbirth, and also death: About 45,000 females die annually of FGM, according to one recent study. More than 230 million women and girls across the world alive in 2024 have undergone the procedure, mostly in Muslim-majority countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in Asia and the Middle East, according to the United Nations. The organization noted a 15 percent increase in the number of FGM survivors since 2016. It labels it a form of torture. In Gambia, the UN estimates that about 75 percent of women have had the procedure – among the top 10 highest rates in the world. Many have been cut before the age of six. There has been a worldwide movement for years to ban FGM. Today, it is illegal in more than 70 countries. Since The Gambia banned the practice in 2015, only three women have been convicted of defying the law. In 2023, two mothers and a practitioner, 96-year-old Yassin Fatty, were fined. Fatty said then she would never stop cutting. Still, those convictions set off a fight. Some wanted the ban repealed and argued that FGM is part of Gambia’s culture and Islam mandates it. Religious leaders called FGM “a virtue,” and insisted that those who fight it “are fighting God.” One advocacy group, Concerned Citizens, called on the Gambian government to stop targeting those performing the procedure. “The people of The Gambia have consistently expressed, through various lawful means, their opposition to the ban and have instructed their elected members of parliament to repeal the said prohibition,” the group said in a statement. In March 2024, a majority of lawmakers voted to advance a bill to overturn the ban, setting off weeks of furious campaigning by human rights activists, doctors, and other opponents of FGM. Had it passed, the bill would have made The Gambia the first country in the world to reverse a ban on FGM. Instead, it was defeated by lawmakers last summer, but only just, and by procedural maneuvering. “It’s such a huge sense of relief,” one survivor of FGM, Absa Samba, told the Associated Press after the vote. “But I believe this is just the beginning of the work.” The ban was immediately challenged with a petition filed with the Gambian Supreme Court. That decision is pending. “There is more to come in Gambia,” Nimco Ali, an FGM survivor and anti-FGM activist, told NPR. “The Imam has stated that once the ban is repealed, then the next (goal) will be to repeal laws against child marriage.” Meanwhile, the procedure continues in secrecy, and activists such as Fatou Baldeh, founder of the group Women In Leadership and Liberation, told the BBC there has been an increase in FGM procedures being performed on babies in the country. “Parents feel that if they cut their girls when they’re babies, they heal quicker,” she said. “But also, because of the law, they feel that if they perform it at such a young age, it’s much easier to disguise, so that people don’t know.” Share this story Advertisement The World, Briefly Israel Resumes Ceasefire Talks, UN Declares Famine in Gaza Gaza / Israel / West Bank