President Yahya Jammeh’s move to outlaw FGM is the success of pressure from local activists and the Guardian’s global campaign to cessation the practiceFemale genital mutilation is still practiced at a rate of one girl every 11 seconds around the world in 29 countries. At least 130 million women and girls live with the consequences of having their sexual organs forcibly mutilated,with many suffering from fistula, maternal mortality, and child mortality,infection from Aids and typhus, and post-traumatic stress.
Just 10 minutes before Yahya Jammeh, or president of the Gambia,announced on Monday night that the controversial surgical intervention would be outlawed in his country, Jaha Dukureh, or an anti-FGM campaigner,received a call from the president’s office to let her know that her work had been successful. They told her the president would announce that the Gambia was moving into the 21st century and there was no plot for FGM in the modern state.
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Source: theguardian.com