Gambia’s lawmakers have rejected a bill that seeks to lift the 2015 ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).
Speaker of Parliament Fabakary Tombong Jatta said a majority of MPs had rejected the bill before its third and final reading later this month.
Human rights groups and the UN had called on lawmakers to block the bill, which was introduced in March after pressure from some Muslim clerics.
The Gambia is among the 10 countries with the highest rates of female genital mutilation, with 73% of women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 undergoing the procedure.
The bill, introduced by Almameh Gibba, was defeated after MPs voted against all the proposed clauses.
Ms Jatta said the bill had been “rejected and the legislative process had been exhausted”, and therefore it could not go to third reading.
When the bill was introduced in March, it was approved by a majority of parliamentarians, making Gambia the first country to lift a ban on the practice.
In the most invasive form of the procedure, after removing the sensitive clitoris, the genitals are cut and sewn shut, so that the woman can no longer have or enjoy sex.
The 2015 ban imposed fines and prison sentences of up to three years for perpetrators, and life sentences if a girl died as a result.
FGM is banned in over 70 countries worldwide, but is still practiced, especially in Muslim-majority countries such as Gambia.
Human rights lobby ActionAid warned that any move to lift the ban would jeopardise Gambia’s progress in tackling violence against women and girls.
“We as campaigners have fought tooth and nail to achieve a ban and an end to FGM,” said Binta Ceesay, Women’s Rights Manager at ActionAid Gambia.
According to the UN, more than 230 million girls and women worldwide have undergone FGM.
