Threats to #EndFGM Law in The Gambia
Posted: 22 March, 2024 Filed under: Musu Bakoto Sawo, Satang Nabaneh | Tags: ACERWC, African Commission and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, anti-FGM campaigners, bodily integrity, cultural heritage, female circumcision, female genital mutilation, fgm, gender-based violence, human rights, Imam Abdoulie Fatty, international outcry, lack of information, legal instruments, Maputo Protocol, Private Member’s Bill, protection of human rights, religious beliefs, The Gambia, Women's Act of 2010, Women’s (Amendment) Act of 2015, Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024, Yahya Jammeh 18 Comments |
Author: Satang Nabaneh Legal Scholar & Human Rights Practitioner |
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Author: Musu Bakoto Sawo Gambian feminist and human rights lawyer |
In 2015, The Gambia introduced legislation banning female genital mutilation (FGM) through an amendment of the Women’s Act of 2010, following decades of advocacy and sensitization efforts led by civil society organisations (CSOs) and community groups. Section 32A of the Women’s (Amendment) Act of 2015 makes it an offence for any person to engage in female circumcision. Whoever contravenes it is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of three years or a fine or both. The Act also stipulates a life sentence when the circumcision results in death. Section 32B (1) addresses those who commission the procedure, stipulating that ‘a person who requests, incites or promotes female circumcision by providing tools or by any other means commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of three years or a fine of fifty thousand Dalasis or both’. In addition, a fine of ten thousand Dalasis (approximately $153) as provided in section 32B (2) of the Act is levied against anyone who knows about the practice and fails to report it without a good cause.
Politics of witchcraft and mental illness in the black communities
Posted: 21 October, 2022 Filed under: Konanani Happy Raligilia | Tags: Andile Mxakaz, brutal assaults, Christian state, cultural heritage, Jostina Sangweni, killings, legislative framework, mental illnesses, religious denominations, rural communities, Satanic church, scientific approaches, spirituality, Steve Biko, violence against women, witchcraft, Witchcraft Suppression Act in 1957 3 Comments
Author: Konanani Happy Raligilia
Acting HoD, Department of Jurisprudence, University of South Africa
When asked by Judge Boshoff about his views on witchcraft, Steve Biko had this to say; “we do not reject it [witchcraft], we regard it as part of the mystery of our cultural heritage, [and] we feel for ourselves it has not been sufficiently looked into with available scientific approaches as of this moment.” Indeed, issues relating to witchcraft are public interest matters and that is so because ordinarily they highlight conflicting and contending views about spirituality. Arguably, the attributing factor to this contesting view is the fact that at the time of the enactment of Witchcraft Suppression Act in 1957, South Africa was still a Christian state as opposed to the current secular post-democratic one which embraces all religious denominations and cultural heritage. The Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957 exposes a reality that this law failed to divide matters of spirituality and witchcraft, thereby creating a vacuum which often results in members of the communities resorting to judging those who are perceived as witches based on Christian standards of acceptability and norms. Regrettably, the Witchcraft Suppression Act does not provide a definitive answer of what constitutes witchcraft, yet its founding purpose is aimed at suppressing practices of witchcraft and similar practices. However, Reverend Riaan Swiegelaar and Dr Adri Norton announced the country’s first Satanic church in June 2020. It remains to be seen whether its practices would fall out of this witchcraft’s legislative framework and whether those potential witchcraft practitioners would then be prosecuted and punished.
AfricLaw 