“Following the vote at the moment by the Nationwide Meeting of The Gambia, we commend the nation’s choice to uphold the ban on Feminine Genital Mutilation (FGM), reaffirming its commitments to human rights, gender equality, and defending the well being and well-being of women and girls.
“FGM entails reducing or eradicating some or the entire exterior feminine genitalia. Principally carried out on infants and younger women, it may inflict extreme rapid and long-term bodily and psychological harm, together with an infection, later childbearing issues, and post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
“The Girls’s (Modification) Act, 2015 – a pivotal milestone in advancing gender equality – is the fruits of years of advocacy, neighborhood engagement, and schooling geared toward eradicating this dangerous follow and assembly the Sustainable Growth Aim targets (5.3). It’s, due to this fact, essential that these authorized protections stay in place.
“The choice to take care of the FGM ban aligns with The Gambia’s worldwide and regional commitments to forestall dangerous practices towards women and girls, in keeping with the Conference on the Rights of the Youngster (CRC), the Conference on the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination In opposition to Girls (CEDAW), the African Constitution on the Rights and Welfare of the Youngster, and the Maputo Protocol defending African ladies’s rights.
“Along with recognizing this vital choice by the nationwide parliament, we commend the tireless efforts of survivors, activists, civil society organizations, and faith-based teams working to finish FGM. Upholding the ban helps these grassroots initiatives, that are pivotal in ending all types of violence, together with dangerous practices, towards women and girls and delivering a safer and more healthy future for women and girls in The Gambia and elsewhere.
“The fragility of progress to finish FGM can’t be overstated. Assaults on ladies’s and women’ rights in international locations across the globe have meant that hard-won positive factors are in peril of being misplaced. In some international locations, developments have stalled or reversed due pushback towards women’ and girls’s rights, instability, and battle, disrupting providers and prevention programmes.
“That’s the reason legislative bans on FGM, whereas an important basis for interventions, can’t alone finish FGM. At present, greater than 73 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 within the nation have already undergone this dangerous follow, with many subjected to it earlier than their fifth birthday.
“Latest months have emphasised the necessity for continued advocacy to advance gender equality, finish violence towards women and girls, and safe the positive factors made to speed up progress to finish FGM. It additionally underscores the significance of participating with communities and grassroots organizations, working with conventional, political, and non secular leaders, coaching well being staff, and elevating consciousness successfully on the harms attributable to the follow.
“Supporting survivors of FGM stays as pressing as ever. Many endure from long-term bodily and psychological hurt that may consequence from the process, and wish complete medical and psychological care to heal from the scars inflicted by this dangerous follow.
“We stay steadfast in our dedication to help the federal government, civil society, and communities in The Gambia within the struggle towards FGM. Collectively, we should not relaxation till we be certain that all women and girls can reside free from violence and dangerous practices and that their rights, bodily integrity, and dignity are upheld.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA).