Programs: Science and Policy
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AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program
View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim
AAAS Human Rights Action Network
| Date: | 23 December 1997 |
| Case Number: | ga9711_fgm |
| Country: | Gambia |
| Subject: | Government lifts censors on opponents of female genital mutilation |
| Issues: | Freedom from discrimination; Freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Freedom of opinion and expression; Rights of the child |
| Type of alert: | Update |
| Related alerts: | 2 September 1997 |
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The government of the Gambia has declared that issues of reproductive health, including female genital mutilation (FGM), may now be announced on Gambia Telecommunications (GAMTEL), a state-owned company that controls radio and television stations. In a 17 May 1997 directive, the government banned the use of state-owned media to oppose female genital mutilation, or to portray its medical hazards. The reversal allows NGOs opposed to the practice to make use of the government-owned media.
The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), a non-governmental organization, has declared that international alerts contributed immensely to the government's rescission of the policy directive against communication regarding the harmful effects of FGM.
No further action is required.
(Sources of information on this case include: Equality Now Alert, July 1997; the World Medical Association; Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action, by Nahid Touia; El Nadim Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence; the New England Journal of Medicine, v. 331, 15 September 1994, no. 11; International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 46 (1994), 127-135, and Amnesty International.)
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