Lawmakers will decide to either repeal or maintain the existing FGM law in The Gambia in an anticipated parliamentary debate which is expected to be attended by rights activists across the country.
FGM has been declared a human rights violation by all rights groups, thus warranting its ban by the Jammeh government in 2015.
Since Barrow took over office in 2017, a section of Gambia’s Muslim leaders including the Supreme Islamic Council took a bold stance to promote the act despite its ban.
Amnesty International, the National Human Rights Commission, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and many local and international human rights groups have warned parliamentarians and the government of the Gambia not to repeal the existing law, citing it as one of the greatest human rights violations.
The Assembly Chamber is expected to be filled by pro and anti-FGM law supporters and a cross-section of the populace.
The CSOs Coalition has also urged lawmakers to vote against repealing the FGM law. However, some parliamentarians have already gone viral after they decided to block any parliament decision to repeal the law while others show a position as pro-FGM.
For Nyang-Sanneh Institute, the current national debate over FGM/C in local parlance and the efforts to reverse the Women's Act 2015 banning the practice is informed more by cultural understandings even among those who subscribe to the debate via religion.
“A 2013 statement issued by the OIC in Jeddah along with renowned global Arab-Muslim scholars participating in a national dialogue on FGM and Islam a few days ago in The Gambia, have come out in no uncertain terms to disassociate the practice from Islam,” the institute stated.
