Gambia: UNFPA calls for urgent, accelerated action to stop FGM, child marriage

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - At least 19 harmful practices, ranging from breast ironing to virginity testing, are considered human rights violations, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which focuses on the three most prevalent ones namely - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Child Marriage and extreme bias against daughters in favour of sons.

“Harmful practices against girls cause profound and lasting trauma, robbing them of their right to reach their full potential,” the UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, said on Tuesday in a statement marking the launch of the 2020 State of World Population Report and the National Gender-Based Violence Helpline.

She said this year, an estimated 4.1 million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation. Today, 33,000 girls under age 18 will be forced into marriages, usually to much older men.

Dr.  Kanem further stated that “Also, an extreme preference for sons over daughters in some countries has fuelled gender-biased sex selection or extreme neglect that leads to their death as children, resulting in 140 million “missing females.”

She disclosed that in The Gambia, three in every four girls have been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation while one in every three girls is married off before her 18th birthday.

She said although some of these practices are waning, due to population growth, the number of girls subjected to them will actually rise in the coming decades if urgent action is not taken.

According to her, having ratified international treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, The Gambia has a duty to end the harm, whether it’s inflicted on girls by family members, religious communities, health-care providers, commercial enterprises or state institutions.

She also said although the Country has responded by enacting laws, but laws alone are not enough.

Decades of experience and research show that bottom-up, grassroots approaches are better at bringing change, “We must tackle the problem by tackling the root causes, especially gender-biased norms. We must do a better job of supporting communities’ own efforts to understand the toll these practices are taking on girls and the benefits that accrue to the whole of society by stopping them,” said Dr. Kanem.

She called for the economy and the legal system that supports gender inequality to be restructured to guarantee every woman equal opportunities, changing rules for property inheritance, for example, can eliminate a powerful incentive for families to favour sons over daughters and help to eliminate child marriage in the Gambia.

She said ending child marriage and female genital mutilation worldwide is possible by 2030, saying “if we invest in scaling up efforts to keep girls in school longer, teaching them life skills and engaging men and boys in social change.”

Dr.  Kanem pointed out that while progress has been made in ending some harmful practices worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse gains.

“A recent analysis revealed that if services and programmes remain shuttered for six months, an additional 13 million girls may be forced into marriage and 2 million more girls may be subjected to female genital mutilation between now and 2030,” she said.

According to Dr. Kanem, “the pandemic both makes our job harder and more urgent as so many more girls are now at risk,” further saying that “We will not stop until the rights, choices and bodies of all girls are fully their own.”

She added: “As a result, and to mark the release of the 2020 SWOP report in The Gambia, UNFPA is supporting the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, in partnership with Paradise Foundation, to launch the National Gender-Based Violence Helpline, a mechanism for reporting cases of Domestic and Gender Based Violence in communities.”

Dr. Kanem also said the helpline most importantly serves as a referral pathway that provides timely health, legal and psychosocial support to victims and survivors of Gender Based Violence.

“The GBV helpline comes at a time when COVID-19 restrictions may lead to increase incidences of Gender Based Violence in our homes and communities.

UNFPA commits to continue supporting the government and people of The Gambia to eradicate all forms of harmful practices impeding the health and wellbeing of women and girls.  

"We will not stop until the rights, choices and bodies of all girls are fully their own,” she added.

-0- PANA MSS/VAO 30June2020