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Good practice Imported

Criminalising FGM — The Gambia's Women's (Amendment) Act 2015 and Its Enforcement Gap

Gambia · Banjul · See the Gambia profile · See the Banjul profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 71% 48/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

The Gambia outlawed female genital mutilation in 2015, but a decade on only two cases have been prosecuted and just one has led to conviction, prevalence has fallen only slightly (74.9%→72.6%), and a 2024 bid to repeal the ban was defeated in the National Assembly.

74.9 %
FGM/C prevalence among women aged 15-49 (2013)
72.6 %
FGM/C prevalence among women aged 15-49 (2019/20)
2 cases
FGM/C prosecutions in the law's first decade (2015-2024)
1 conviction
Convictions secured (2015-2024)
15,000 Gambian dalasi (~US$210)
Fine imposed for cutting/preparing to cut girls in Bakadaji (August 2023)
Criminalising FGM — The Gambia's Women's (Amendment) Act 2015 and Its Enforcement Gap

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
National Assembly of The Gambia; monitored by Women in Liberation and Leadership (WILL)
Period
2015–present
Keywords
female genital mutilation, legal reform, child protection, law enforcement

Context

The Gambia's Women's (Amendment) Act 2015 criminalised performing, aiding or promoting female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with penalties of up to three years' imprisonment and life imprisonment where a girl dies from the procedure.

Objectives

Reduce FGM/C prevalence and provide a legal deterrent and enforcement mechanism against the practice.

Activities

Enforcement runs through police, prosecutors and the courts. In August 2023, three women in Bakadaji were fined 15,000 dalasi (about US$210) for cutting three girls and preparing to cut five more. In March 2024, the National Assembly voted down a bill that would have repealed the ban.

Results

As of 2024, only two cases had been prosecuted in the ten years since the law passed, with a conviction secured in just one. National FGM/C prevalence among women aged 15-49 fell only slightly, from 74.9% (2013) to 72.6% (2019/20, UNFPA). Campaigners report some families have responded to the ban by cutting girls earlier -- as infants -- to avoid detection.

Conclusions

A candid case of a legal reform whose protective intent has been only partially realised: criminalisation created a durable legal norm that withstood a 2024 repeal attempt, but weak prosecution capacity and a reported shift toward cutting younger children mean measured outcomes for girls' protection remain limited.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — No enforcement budget or per-case cost data is published.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — In force since 2015 (10+ years); prevalence has fallen only about 2 percentage points in that period, indicating a very long timeline is needed for legal reform alone to shift an entrenched practice.
Staffing & skills
National Assembly (legislature), Police, prosecutors and courts (enforcement), Civil-society monitors, e.g. Women in Liberation and Leadership (WILL)

Conditions for success

  • Increased prosecution capacity and resources
  • Community-level behaviour-change work alongside the legal deterrent
  • Sustained political will to resist repeal pressure

Common failure modes

  • Very low prosecution rate (two cases, one conviction, in ten years) shows weak enforcement capacity
  • Reported shift to cutting infants to evade detection shows circumvention of the law's intent

Where it fits

Governance type
national criminal law
Scale
national
Income level
low-income

Commonly funded by

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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