The death of a one-month-old baby girl in The Gambia following an alleged female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure has triggered widespread condemnation from rights groups, lawmakers, and the public.
Police said the child was rushed to hospital in the capital, Banjul, with severe bleeding but was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy is underway, though many have linked her death to the outlawed practice.
“This is violence, pure and simple. Culture is no excuse, tradition is no shield,” the women’s rights group Women In Leadership and Liberation (WILL) said in a statement. Two women have been arrested in connection with the case.
Kombo North MP Abdoulie Ceesay, whose district the incident occurred in, called for renewed commitment to protecting children from “harmful practices that rob them of their health, dignity, and life.”
FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia, has been illegal in The Gambia since 2015. Offenders face up to three years in prison, or life sentences if the victim dies. Despite the ban, enforcement has been minimal, with only two prosecutions and one conviction recorded since the law passed.
According to UNICEF, The Gambia has one of the world’s highest FGM prevalence rates, with 73% of women and girls aged 15 to 49 subjected to the practice, often before the age of six.
WILL founder Fatou Baldeh told the BBC there has been a rise in procedures performed on babies to “heal quicker” and evade detection under the law. A lobbying effort to lift the ban was rejected in parliament last year, but activists warn the push to legalise FGM continues.
Globally, more than 70 countries ban FGM, yet it remains common in several African Muslim-majority nations, including The Gambia.