Gambian mothers fear for their daughters as court tries to ban FGM | Story

Wellinga, The Gambia As the Supreme Court of The Gambia prepares to issue a decision to ban female genital mutilation on Wednesday in the country, survivors say the decision could determine whether their daughters will be protected by the law or face the pain they experienced.

In Wellinga, girls run barefoot on the sandy beach, their laughter accompanying the afternoon call to prayer. They are passing through the square, full of energy and they don’t know that the legal dispute that is happening in the highest court of the country can improve their future.

Under the mango tree, Mariama Jabbie watches them closely.

Her daughters are six and nine years old, the age they were when the women of their village took her to cut her. He doesn’t remember much about that day, but almost 30 years later, he has no pain.

Now 28, Mariama said FGM has changed every aspect of her life. The pain continued through the experience, which followed her into adulthood, marriage and motherhood. Today, it is a constant fear that his daughters will meet the same fate.

The fear grew late last year when a three-month-old baby died after what authorities said was a clandestine FGM procedure near her home in Wellinga, about 15 kilometers from the capital Banjul.

“I am always alert,” he told Al Jazeera. “I am worried that a relative may take my daughters without my knowledge.

Having scars

Mariama’s fears are echoed by other women who see the upcoming ruling as a test of whether the law will continue to protect girls.

Binta Jawo, 30, who was circumcised as a child, is raising a seven-year-old daughter who is determined to protect the practice.

“It was very painful,” he recalls. “I can’t imagine letting my daughter go through what I know is harm when I have the power to protect her.”

What worries her the most is the possibility that the Supreme Court may weaken one of the few laws that girls currently have.

“The ban has changed,” he said. “It has helped reduce this practice, although it has not completely stopped.”

If the law is weakened, he fears that families will again be under pressure to force girls to be circumcised.

For 37-year-old Sarjo Kambi, those fears were confirmed in 2023.

While on a business trip, his daughter was taken by her grandmother and circumcised without her consent.

“It was the most painful day of my life,” he said, his voice breaking. “I still feel that pain every day.”

Sarjo said she was circumcised at the age of six, which affected her health and her marriage.

“I was almost sealed because of the cut,” he said. “On our wedding night, my husband failed to enter me.

She said she and her husband agreed that their daughter would not do this.

After explaining what happened, he felt abandoned.

“I went to the police waiting for protection,” he said. But I was told that it was a family matter.

That hurt me so much, it still hurts me because I felt like my son was nothing.

Now, as the Supreme Court prepares to hand down its decision, he worries that even the limited protections afforded by the law could end.

He said: “If girls are still being shaved secretly despite the ban, what will happen if the protection ends?”

Law on the case

The case before the Supreme Court of The Gambia has become one of the most controversial constitutional issues in the country, and has also sparked a debate about religion, culture and women’s rights.

This follows the parliament’s rejection in 2024 of an attempt to repeal the 2015 law banning FGM.

The ban made the practice a crime, punishable by three years in prison and life imprisonment, which carries the death penalty. But enforcement has remained weak, allowing the practice to continue underground.

The first conviction under the law came in 2023, when three women were found guilty of performing FGM on eight girls aged between eight and 10 in the Central River Region.

As of 2024, only two cases have gone to trial.

In May, the Supreme Court acquitted three women accused of causing the death of a three-month-old baby after failing to prove their case.

Campaigners say the law has helped reduce male reproduction but has also led to clandestine sex, with some families cutting young girls to avoid being identified.

The Gambia is still one of the countries in Africa that has a serious problem of genital mutilation. According to the 2019-2020 Demographic and Health Survey, 65 percent of girls are circumcised before the age of five, while another 18 percent are circumcised between the ages of five and nine. UNICEF estimates that nearly three out of four Gambian women have been circumcised.

Force removal

The push to overturn the law continues even though the laws are not being enforced.

In early 2024, a lawmaker filed a bill seeking to end the ban, prompting protests by women’s rights groups and women’s rights activists who warned that the decades-old practice could be reversed.

The Supreme Islamic Council of The Gambia agreed with the idea, saying that female circumcision is one of the virtues of Islam.

Supporters of the challenge to the constitution say the case is about religious freedom and cultural freedom and not the act itself.

Human rights organizations and medical organizations oppose this policy, saying that all forms of female genital mutilation violate girls’ rights and freedoms.

Support for the practice is also strong among some Gambians.

Kawsu, a 48-year-old father of three sons, said if he had a daughter, he would make sure she was circumcised.

“I don’t see anything wrong,” he told Al Jazeera. It is part of my culture and religion.

They were among hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside Parliament in 2024 to support the repeal of the ban, showing the depth of public support for the repeal of the law despite Parliament rejecting the idea.

Beyond the verdict

For campaigners, the case is more than a single court decision.

Fatou Baldeh, a Gambian protester and survivor, says months of anti-government protests have fueled fear and misinformation while allowing women to speak out.

Even after years of being outlawed, he said, silence protects the practice in many families and communities.

Member of Parliament Abdoulie Ceesay, whose constituency was shaken by the death of a three-month-old child, said the accident continues to trouble the people.

“We are still shocked by what happened,” he told Al Jazeera. “No community should have to endure such a loss.”

Calling FGM a “violation of human rights”, Ceesay said the country’s ban should remain in place to protect girls.

That view is shared by UNICEF.

Nafisa Binte Shafique, UNICEF representative in The Gambia, told Al Jazeera that FGM violates the rights of girls and women and causes immediate, irreversible and lifelong problems.

“Although UNICEF respects customs, traditions and religious beliefs, no tradition or belief can justify actions that harm children,” he said.

Shafique said strong laws are important but they need to be supported and enforced properly, to get justice and support for survivors. He added that UNICEF will continue to work with the government, non-governmental organizations, community and religious leaders, youth and survivors to end this practice.

Waiting for judgment

As the world awaits the Supreme Court’s decision, its outcome could shape not only the future of the law but also the lives of thousands of girls whose safety is at risk.

Al Jazeera contacted The Gambia’s Ministry of Justice for clarification on the government’s decision but did not receive a response.

For Mariama, uncertainty remains personal.

“I just want my daughters to grow up with choices that I never had,” she said. “I hope the court will protect girls like them.”