A group of religious leaders and a member of parliament have collaborated to overturn the 2015 law banning female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Gambia. These efforts succeeded an attempt in 2024, which the Gambian parliament rejected. Religious leaders argue that the law prohibiting FGM transgresses constitutional rights to cultural and religious freedom.
The Gambia holds the highest rates of FGM in the world, where almost three-quarters of women aged 15 to 49 have endured the practice, with nearly two-thirds of them receiving it before the age of five. The United Nations passed a resolution in 2012 banning the practice, citing it as a grave human rights violation with no scientific or medical backing. The current law in the Gambia punishes perpetrators with fines of up to 50,000 dalasi ($685) and up to three years' imprisonment.
Compiled from: Sarah Johnson, “Attempt to overturn the Gambia’s ban on FGM heard by supreme court,” The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2026.