The harmful practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in The Gambia, but the practice has continued with almost no one getting convicted.

Development Diaries reports that women and girls are being moved to other jurisdictions where the practice is either tolerated or not prohibited.

FGM is a practice that involves the cutting of the female external genitalia and has been criticised by expert authorities in health matters and described as harmful.

The rate of FGM in The Gambia is around 76 percent for women and girls between the ages of 14 and 49.

The practice was banned in 2015 by former President Yaya Jammeh, promising that the lives of women and girls would be safeguarded.

The presidential declaration was followed almost immediately by an amendment of the Women’s Act 2010, which criminalised the practice and laid down penalties.

However, it is understood that the present law against the practice, as argued by Malick Jallow Foundation for Children (MJFC), does not provide for FGM perpetrated by The Gambians beyond the territorial waters of the country.

‘The present law does not provide for FGM perpetrated by Gambians beyond the territorial waters of The Gambia’, MJFC said in a statement.

‘This can lead to perpetrators and accomplices choosing to carry out the practice away from The Gambia to other jurisdictions where the practice is either tolerated or not prohibited’.

The recent conviction of three women is the first since the coming of the prohibition law.

Development Diaries calls on The Gambian National Assembly to address the identified gaps in the law to ensure its efficiency.

Photo source: UNICEF