Gambian mothers fear for their daughters as court weighs FGM ban

Summary

Wellingara, The Gambia – As The Gambia’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on the country’s ban on female genital mutilation on Wednesday, survivors say the decision could determine whether their daughters remain protected by law or face the same trauma they endured. In Wellingara, girls run barefoot across a sandy compound, their laughter mingling with the afternoon call to prayer. They dart through the yard, full of energy and unaware that a legal battle unfolding in the country’s highest court could shape their future. From beneath a mango tree, Mariama Jabbie watches them closely. Her daughters are six and nine, the same age she was when women from her village took her away to be cut. She remembers little of that day, but nearly three decades later, the pain has never left her. Thirty-year-old Binta Jawo, who underwent FGM as a child, is raising a seven-year-old daughter she is determined to shield from the practice. “It was very painful,” she recalls. “I cannot imagine allowing my daughter to go through something I know is harmful when I have the power to protect her.” What worries her most is the possibility that the Supreme Court could weaken one of the few legal safeguards girls currently have. “The ban has made a difference,” she said. “It has helped reduce the practice, even if it hasn’t stopped it completely.” If the law is weakened, she fears families will once again come under greater pressure to subject girls to FGM. It still hurts today because it felt like my child did not matter.” Now, as the Supreme Court prepares to rule, she worries that even the limited protection offered by the law could disappear. “If girls are still being cut in secret despite the ban,” she said, “what will happen if that protection disappears altogether?” The case before The Gambia’s Supreme Court has become one of the country’s most consequential constitutional challenges, reopening a debate over religion, culture and women’s rights. It follows parliament’s rejection in 2024 of an attempt to repeal the 2015 law banning FGM. As the country waits for the Supreme Court’s decision, the outcome could shape not only the future of the law but also the lives of thousands of girls whose protection hangs in the balance.