Jaha Dukureh, one of the leading advocates against female genital mutilation, has asked the Gambian government to punish anyone that violates the country’s law that criminalises FGM. 

The founder of civic society organisation Save Hands was reacting to this week’s decision by the Gambia’s parliament to uphold the ban on female circumcision in the country. 

Ms Dukureh praised Gambian lawmakers for keeping the FGM ban while calling on the government to punish anyone for practising the act.

“This is what I wanted for my country and I am so happy and elated. So, thank you Gambia and thank you to our national assembly members. And thank you to Seedy Njie for all he has done. So for us, now it’s time to work with our community and reunite people and educate them,” she said.

“This is not the end of our fight. If anyone holds a grudge against me or is mad at me: this is my belief. I am not here to hurt anyone (and) I am not here to hurt communities. It’s just that I believe that we should have laws that are going to protect women and girls against FGM.

 “The Gambia should definitely work on implementation of the laws. Having good laws on paper without implementation doesn’t make sense. So, our government has a moral obligation to ensure that now that the bill has been maintained, we ensure implementation and educate people about the law,” she added.

The Gambia’s FGM law punishes the traditional practice with up to 3 years in prison and a hefty fine of 50,000 dalasis. The law was enacted in 2015 under former President Yahya Jammeh.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba