UN calls on The Gambia to withdraw bill removing ban on FGM

The United Nations has called on members of parliament in The Gambia to withdraw a bill lifting the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

The Gambia’s parliament began examining the legislation on Monday.

FGM was banned in The Gambia in 2015.

Influential Muslim clerics have been pushing for the ban to be repealed, while women’s rights activists want it to remain.

The UN says more than three-quarters of Gambian women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have undergone FGM.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described the bill as abhorrent.

It said it was crucial that The Gambia continued to protect the rights and dignity of all, especially women and girls.