{"id":53770,"date":"2024-02-26T19:16:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T19:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=53770"},"modified":"2024-02-26T16:58:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T16:58:02","slug":"un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law","title":{"rendered":"UN warns Gambia against repealing FGM law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The United Nations in The Gambia on Friday issued a statement expressing \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the introduction of a Private Member\u2019s Bill, the Women\u2019s (Amendment) Bill, 2024, that seeks to lift the ban on FGM.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It stated: \u201cThe repeal of the 2015 Act, a vital legal instrument, would reverse gains made regarding the wholesome protection of the rights of women and girls, and would contravene The Gambia\u2019s obligations under international human rights law and continental policy documents, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People\u2019s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurthermore, UN Resolution 73\/149 on intensifying global efforts for the elimination of FGM and Resolution on the elimination of FGM adopted by consensus at the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council (July 8, 2022) urge states to adopt and enforce regional and national legislation prohibiting FGM&#8230; About 73 per cent of Gambian women and girls were subjected to FGM, 65 per cent of whom were under the age of five (according to the 2020 Gambia Demographic and Health Survey). Repealing the Women\u2019s Amendment Act would exacerbate these figures, expose more girls and women to grave detrimental effects on their physical and psychological health and continue to violate their fundamental rights, including to bodily integrity, life, health, and protection against torture or other cruel and inhumane treatment. This repeal would also limit women and girls\u2019 capacity to participate fully in society or develop and reach their full potential within the Gambian society.<\/p>\n<p>The Gambia\u2019s National Conference on FGM, held 6 -7 February 2024 and involving Government, NGOs, CSOs, UN participants and survivors of FGM, reiterated that FGM is a harmful practice that is deeply rooted in the Gambian culture. While the rights to culture and religion are guaranteed under national and international human rights law, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women specifically condemns FGM as an act of violence against women stating that countries \u2018should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition, or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination\u2019&#8230;. On this year\u2019s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (6 February 2024), UN Secretary-General Anto\u0301nio Guterres reminded that FGM is an egregious violation of fundamental human rights that causes lifelong harm to the physical and mental health of women and girls and called upon all Member States to \u2018&#8230;redouble our efforts and investments to uphold the rights of women and girls, and put a decisive end to female genital mutilation once and for all\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge efforts made by the government, CSOs, religious leaders, and communities to combat FGM in The Gambia and advance the fundamental rights of women and girls. We call for continued allocation of appropriate budgets and human resources and implementation, monitoring and effective enforcement measures on the law prohibiting FGM. Legal measures must be accompanied by awareness-raising campaigns to change societal norms, practices and attitudes towards FGM. We continue to urge national authorities, lawmakers, young people, civil society organisations, and traditional and religious leaders to come together with a unified purpose to foster a society that prioritises the health, well-being and dignity of all girls and women in The Gambia&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\">Gambia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The United Nations in The Gambia on Friday issued a statement expressing \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the introduction of a Private Member\u2019s Bill, the Women\u2019s (Amendment) Bill, 2024, that seeks to lift the ban on FGM. It stated: \u201cThe repeal of the 2015 Act, a vital legal instrument, would reverse gains made regarding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":53769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-53770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UN warns Gambia against repealing FGM law - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United Nations in The Gambia on Friday issued a statement expressing \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the introduction of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN warns Gambia against repealing FGM law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United Nations in The Gambia on Friday issued a statement expressing \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the introduction of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-26T19:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/sm_1708953383.623269.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UN warns Gambia against repealing FGM law\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-26T19:16:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\"},\"wordCount\":593,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2024\/02\/sm_1708953383.623269.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/un-warns-gambia-against-repealing-fgm-law\",\"name\":\"UN warns Gambia against repealing FGM law - 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