Gambia Moves Toward Overturning Landmark Ban on Female Genital Cutting
Lawmakers in the West African country voted to advance a bill repealing a 2015 ban. If it passes the final round of voting, Gambia will become the first nation to roll back protections against the practice.
By Ruth Maclean
Gambian lawmakers have voted to advance a measure revoking a ban on female genital cutting by removing legal protections for millions of girls, raising fears that other countries could follow suit.
Of the 47 members of the Gambia National Assembly present on Monday, 42 voted to send a bill to overturn the ban onward to a committee for consideration before a final vote. Human rights experts, lawyers and women’s and girls’ rights campaigners say that overturning the ban would undo decades of work to end female genital cutting, a centuries-old ritual tied up in ideas of sexual purity, obedience and control.
If the bill passes the final stages, the small West African nation of Gambia will become the first nation globally to roll back protections against cutting.
www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/world/africa/gambia-female-genital-cutting.html