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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/Johannes_P on 2023-10-11 11:52:49.
Female genital mutilation ban in the Gambia under threat as calls grow to repeal law
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Political and religious leaders in the Gambia are threatening to introduce a bill to decriminalise female genital mutilation, eight years after the practice was outlawed.
Members of the country’s national assembly have backed a proposal for the 2015 law to be scrapped while the Supreme Islamic Council has issued a fatwa condemning anyone who denounces the practice and calling for the government to reconsider the legislation.
“[The] Gambia took a bold step in 2015 towards eradicating FGM, so for us to go back after eight years and start again would have very, very big implications for the country,” said Fallou Sowe, national coordinator of the civil society organisation Network Against Gender-based Violence.
Debate began in late August after three women were convicted of FGM in the Central River region – the first prosecution under the 2015 law – and ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 dalasi or spend a year in jail.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, where 83% of women aged 15 to 49 have undergone FGM, the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa and a coalition of 26 feminist movement organisations recently filed two legal cases against the government to compel ministers to enact a law.
Mama Jubi, who used to cut girls in her community in the Gambia’s Central River region, stopped practising in 2021 when she discovered it was not a religious obligation.
The original article contains 642 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!