Attempt to overturn the Gambia’s ban on FGM heard by supreme court | Global development

A group of religious leaders and a lawmaker from Gambia have launched efforts to overturn the ban on female genital mutilation in the country’s Supreme Court.

The trial, due to resume this month, comes after two babies bled to death after undergoing FGM in Gambia last year. Almameh Gibba, an MP and one of the plaintiffs, tabled a bill to decriminalize FGM which was rejected by the country’s parliament in 2024.

Activists and lawyers see this as the latest step in a backlash against women’s rights that is eroding gender protections around the world.

Fatou Baldeh, founder of Gambian rights organization Women in Liberation & Leadership, said: “FGM is a strong manifestation of violence against women that harms their physical and psychological health.

“If this problem persists [debated at a national level]this shows us that women’s rights are really regressing. This is not an isolated problem: it is part of a global regression of women’s rights.

The Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world. Nearly three-quarters of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone this practice and nearly two-thirds of them were circumcised before the age of five.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of a woman’s external genitalia, which can have serious long-term health consequences, including infertility. It is usually carried out without anesthesia by untrained “cutters” using unsterile instruments such as knives, razor blades or pieces of glass, and the girls are usually forcibly immobilized.

The practice is considered a serious violation of human rights, and in 2012 the UN passed a resolution to ban it. Although it is still practiced in around thirty countries in Africa and Asia, FGM has no medical basis and is practiced solely for cultural or religious reasons.

Under current law in Gambia, a cutter faces up to three years in prison, a fine of 50,000 dalasi (£500), or both. When FGM causes death, the perpetrator risks life in prison.

Although criminalized in 2015, the law remained unapplied until the first convictions in 2023. Three women were sentenced to pay a fine or spend a year in prison for having performed FGM on eight children. These convictions sparked a backlash against the ban, which brought the country to the brink of repeal.

After the bill to repeal the law criminalizing FGM was rejected, a coalition led by Gibba filed a complaint with the Supreme Court, saying the law violated Gambians’ constitutional rights to cultural and religious freedoms.

The court has so far heard two witnesses. Abdoulie Fatty, a prominent Muslim leader, said in December that female circumcision, while not mutilation, was part of Islam and was not harmful.

When asked what he said to the families of two people who died because of the practice, he replied: “We are Muslims and if someone dies, it is God’s will.” »

He explained that the benefit of the practice was to reduce women’s sexual desire, which could be a problem for men.

Fuambai Sia Nyoko Ahmadu, a dual US-Sierra Leonean citizen and founder of a pro-FGM organization, Gambian Women Are Free to Choose, is also expected to testify.

In December, she co-authored an article, Harms of the current global anti-FGM, for the BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics. The article asserted that “a pervasive ‘standard tale’ obscures the diversity of practices, meanings, and experiences among those affected” by FGC.

The plaintiffs are represented by Lamin J Darboe, a UK-trained lawyer with dual British and Gambian nationality; he announced his candidacy for president in December’s national elections.

The ruling follows a July ruling against Sierra Leone by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which described FGM as “one of the worst forms of violence against women” that “reaches the threshold of torture.”

The President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, is the current President of ECOWAS. Weeks after the ruling, he signed the Child Rights Act 2025, which did not ban FGM.

“The fact that he refused to follow through on the decision speaks volumes,” Baldeh said. “In the region we have all these wonderful protocols and treaties protecting women and girls, all of which are against FGM, but nothing is being done. »

Also in Sierra Leone, there was significant opposition to a proposed Safe Motherhood Bill, leading to proposed amendments restricting access to safe abortion.

The move is widely seen as part of a new wave of attacks on women’s rights around the world. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are eroding all the rights women had before Islamist militants took power; In the United States, restrictions on access to abortion and contraceptive services are increasing, and in Iran, women are the regime’s main targets.

New legislative proposals in Bolivia and Uruguay threaten to weaken protections against sexual violence, according to a report by Equality Now.

“Civil society organizations face increasing pressure from repressive laws, such as in India and Kyrgyzstan, while government bodies responsible for promoting women’s rights are being dismantled in South Korea and Argentina,” the report said.