24
Apr
2024
Watch
The proposed repeal of the law banning female genital mutilation in The Gambia
Mr President, Commissioner, before I begin, I want to read you a testimony. “I am ordered to remove my skirt and then my panties. Everyone grabs a part of my body. I'm torn apart. The excisor takes an old knife and grabs my little bite. She cuts it alive in several times. I'm roaring in pain. I try to fight, but I am held by four adults shouting at me. The excisor takes a small bottle containing a transparent liquid and throws it on my sex. It’s 90-degree alcohol.” This is the ordeal experienced by Halimata Fofana at just five years old. It is painful to hear. It’s even more painful. There is no justification for such practices, neither culture nor religion. Female genital mutilation is nothing more than torture. Going back on the law that prohibits them is unacceptable. This is just a further setback for women’s rights and human rights. We cannot remain silent and leave Gambian women in distress. The European Union must be strong and united by their side. Reproachful silence is unthinkable.