Three women have been charged to court by the Gambian police over the death of a one-month-old girl who they had subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Despite a decade-old ban on FGM in Gambia, the practice persists. Last year, lawmakers rejected a bill that would have made the country the first to reverse a national ban on the practice.
The three women were charged under the Women’s (Amendment) Act, 2015, a landmark law criminalising female genital mutilation (FGM), Gambian police said on Wednesday.
One of the women faces life imprisonment and has been remanded in custody, while the two others were charged as accomplices and granted bail, police said.
“That incident is more than just a case — it is a national wake-up call,” Emmanuel Joof, chair of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said following their arrest.
“It is a reminder that FGM is not simply a ‘cultural practice’—it is a criminal offence, a human rights violation, and in some cases, like this one, it is deadly.” He concluded
Approximately 75–76% of Gambian women aged 15–49 have undergone FGM, making it one of the highest prevalence rates in Africa with some cut as early as one week old while a large chunk undergo the process before the age of six.
