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Help me protect Gambian girls!

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To The Gambia’s President Adama Barrow and Attorney General Dawda A. Jallow::

As Gambian and global citizens united in grief, we mourn the tragic deaths of newborn babies in The Gambia resulting from female genital mutilation. We call on you to honour your human rights commitments by pledging to:
  • Employ every possible resource to defend the FGM ban in the Supreme Court;
  • Provide funding for law enforcement training to ensure thorough investigation of FGM incidents;
  • Allocate resources to community awareness programs designed to change cultural norms around FGM.
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Help me protect Gambian girls!
My name is Fatou Baldeh, and I am a survivor of female genital mutilation in The Gambia. When I was a little girl, I was held down on the floor while part of my genitals were cut away. There was no anaesthetic, no understanding. Just fear, confusion, and pain that my young body and mind could not process.

It is a moment that changes you forever.

What makes this even harder to bear is that children are still being cut in secret, often by people they trust. Just last year, two baby girls lost their lives because of this practice. And yet, perpetrators walked free or faced fines that could never reflect the value of the lives lost.

Now, the Supreme Court could make FGM legal again in The Gambia, leaving girls completely vulnerable. The ruling could come within weeks. Global pressure can help make sure the government strongly defends the law, showing that the world is watching this case closely.

Two years ago, people around the world stood with me and other Gambian activists defending the ban – and we won. Today, we urgently need that solidarity again:
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