- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
Gambia MPs uphold ban on female genital mutilation
Gambian lawmakers voted on Monday to uphold a 2015 ban on female genital mutilation, rejecting a controversial bill seeking to overturn the law after months of heated debate and international pressure.
Legislators killed the bill by voting against all the proposed amendments to the 2015 text that would have decriminalised the practice.
Rights groups and the United Nations had urged MPs to reject the bill, saying it threatened years of progress and would have seen The Gambia become the first country to overturn a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).
Table banging could be heard in the packed parliamentary chamber as MPs rejected each of the four clauses.
"The Women's (Amendment) Bill 2024, having gone through the consideration stage with all the clauses voted down, is hereby deemed rejected," said Fabakary Tombong Jatta, the speaker of the National Assembly.
"I rule that the bill is rejected and the legislative process exhausted," he added.
The bill had been making its way through parliament since March, deeply dividing public opinion in the Muslim-majority West African country.
The text, introduced by MP Almameh Gibba, says that "female circumcision" is a deep-rooted cultural and religious practice, but anti-FGM campaigners and international rights groups say it is a harmful violation against women and girls.
FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, and can lead to serious health problems including infections, bleeding, infertility and complications in childbirth.
The Gambia is among the 10 countries with the highest rates of FGM, with 73 percent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 having undergone the procedure, according to 2024 figures from UNICEF.
A UN report from March said that more than 230 million girls and women worldwide are survivors of the practice.
- 'Sets an example' -
"This vote is a significant victory for women and girls in The Gambia," Divya Srinivasan, from women's rights NGO Equality Now, told AFP after the decision, adding that it reflected the country's dedication to upholding gender equality.
"We hope this sets an example in the immediate region as well as in the whole continent," she added.
Amnesty International also welcomed the decision to uphold the 2015 ban.
"In 2015, the adoption of the Women's (Amendment) Act, which criminalizes and sets out punishments for performing, aiding and abetting the practice of FGM, represented a significant milestone in the country's efforts to safeguard girls' and women's rights," said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International Regional Director for West and Central Africa, in a statement.
"It was essential that this progress was protected," she added.
But the rights organisation also said the government must do more to uphold the law and address the "root causes of the issue to change attitudes and norms in order to empower women and girls".
Former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, now in exile, banned FGM in 2015, branding it outdated and not a requirement of Islam.
Parliament later that year adopted the first law specifically banning the practice, which is now punishable by up to three years in prison.
But in reality, FGM has not been eradicated in The Gambia, with the first convictions for performing the procedure only taking place last year.
It was those convictions which caused the issue to flare up in the tiny West African country.
After referring the Women's (Amendment) Bill 2024 to a parliamentary committee in March, Gambian legislators last week backed the committee's conclusions calling for the ban to be maintained.
The report from the joint committee on health and gender said that repealing the ban "would expose women and girls to severe health risks and violate their right to physical and mental well-being".
It also said it had consulted Islamic scholars who confirmed the practice was not a requirement of Islam, an argument commonly used by FGM advocates.
X.Matos--PC