A group of religious leaders and an MP in the Gambia have launched efforts to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation at the country’s supreme court.
The court case, due to resume this month, comes after two babies bled to death after undergoing FGM in the Gambia last year. Almameh Gibba, an MP and one of the plaintiffs, tabled a bill to decriminalise FGM that was rejected by the country’s parliament in 2024.
Activists and lawyers see this as the latest move in a backlash against women’s rights that is eroding gender protections across the world.
Fatou Baldeh, founder of the Gambian rights organisation Women in Liberation & Leadership, said: “FGM is a strong manifestation of violence against women that harms their physical and psychological health.
“If this issue is still being [debated at a national level], it shows us that women’s rights are really regressing. This is not an isolated issue – it’s part of a global regression on women’s rights.”
The Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world. Almost three-quarters of women between 15 and 49 have undergone the practice and nearly two-thirds of them were cut before the age of five.
Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/09/the-gambia-female-genital-mutilation-fgm-supreme-court-case-overturn-ban