Gambia: "FGM to be outlawed"

The executive director of the Banjul-based women’s rights group, the Gambia Committee for the Prevention of Harmful Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), on Monday disclosed that her organization was sensitizing the National Assembly members on the ills of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) so that it would be outlawed in the Gambia.

Dr Isatou Touray said, “female genital mutilation is a gross violation of the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls. It affects the bodily integrity of women. When children are being taken to circumcision, they are not usually told what is going to happen to them”.

She continued, “When female genital mutilation is carried out on a woman, the damage can never be rectified, because it involves the removal of a very sensitive and essential part of the female genitalia and the sexuality of the woman”.