WUNRN
GAMBIA
- CALL FOR BAN ON FGM - RELIGIOUS LEADERS +
TrustLaw - 3 January 2012
– A number of religious leaders in
Imams and traditional chiefs
have joined women’s groups in calling for a law against FGM (also known as
female circumcision), which they say puts women’s reproductive health at risk.
The centuries-old practice
involves removing part or all of a girl's clitoris and labia, and sometimes
narrowing the vaginal opening. UNICEF estimates 3 million girls and women are
cut each year in 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the
In many parts of West Africa
including Gambia, FGM has been presented as a religious obligation for
practising Muslim women, leading most to believe that if they are not
circumcised they are unclean and their prayers will not be heard.
Local chiefs in
“We the chiefs would not have
participated in these activities if they are not in the interest of our
people,” said Malick Mbye, a local chief who attended a series of
information campaigns organised by the Gambia Committee on Traditional
Practices affecting the health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP) in the
north of the country.
There is no specific law to
protect girls from FGM in