BANJUL, Gambia — Members of Gambia’s Nationwide Meeting on Monday rejected a invoice that might have repealed a ban on feminine genital slicing, marking a victory for ladies’s rights advocates on this West African nation after virtually a 12 months of heated debate.
The members of Gambia’s Nationwide Meeting rejected every clause of the invoice in order that there can be nothing left of it for the ultimate vote, which had been scheduled for July 24. That marked an about-face from their determination in March, when the overwhelming majority of members voted to maneuver the invoice ahead, sparking widespread concern that Gambia could possibly be the primary nation on this planet to roll again such a safety.
Proponents of repealing the ban — together with a number of highly effective spiritual leaders in Gambia, which is majority-Muslim — mentioned that households must be free to decide on and claimed that the observe was taught by the prophet Muhammad. (Different Muslim leaders have condemned the observe, and it’s not practiced in quite a few Muslim-majority nations).
Since feminine genital slicing, which is broadly recognized by opponents as feminine genital mutilation, or FGM, was made unlawful in Gambia in 2015, solely three individuals have been prosecuted underneath the regulation. The United Nations estimates that 75 % of ladies in Gambia ages 15 to 49 have been topic to the observe. When these girls had been convicted in August, it sparked a large backlash that included the introduction of the invoice to repeal the ban.
Abdoulie Fatty, one of many imams behind the invoice, sat stone-faced, watching the proceedings in parliament on Monday. He mentioned that he and different spiritual leaders deliberate to focus on those that voted in opposition to the invoice in upcoming elections, saying that he would declare them “not actual Muslims.” He vowed that slicing — which he calls “feminine circumcision” — would proceed in Gambia.
“We’re imams,” he mentioned. “They hearken to us.”
