When the Courtroom Becomes a Threat to Girls’ Bodies

I am a Gambian woman.
I am a survivor.
And, I am deeply disturbed.

What I heard in our Supreme Court Last week was not just a legal argument. It was a warning.

When an imam stands before the highest court of the land and declares that he would “rather die” than abandon female circumcision, what he is really saying is this: that the pain of girls, the trauma carried by women, and the lives lost along the way are acceptable collateral in the name of belief.

Let us be clear: cutting a girl is not faith. It is violence.

God Is Not the Author of Harm

Female genital mutilation, whether called FGM or “female circumcision” is the intentional cutting of a child’s body for non-medical reasons. No matter how it is renamed, minimised, or sanitised, the harm remains the same.

Our country banned FGM in 2015 because it harms, traumatises, and in some cases kills girls and babies. That law did not come from foreign pressure alone it came from survivors, from mothers, from health workers, from Gambians who were brave enough to say: enough.

To hear arguments today that dismiss deaths as “God’s destiny,” reduce harm to “just a drop of blood,” or suggest that girls must suffer so men can control women’s sexuality is not only dangerous, it is dehumanising.

No religion requires the suffering of a child. No tradition is more sacred than a girl’s life, health, and dignity.

This Is Bigger Than One Court Case

What we are witnessing is not happening in isolation.

Across the world, there is a growing pushback against women’s and girls’ rights:

Rising misogyny
Normalisation of violence against women
Increasing femicide
Disturbing levels of online and offline sexual exploitation of children

FGM sits squarely within this global backlash.

Religion is being deliberately conflated with culture, selectively interpreted, and weaponised to justify control over girls’ bodies. This is not about faith. It is about power. It is about keeping women “in their place” whatever that place is supposed to be.

And let us say this clearly too: not all men support this violence. Many men fathers, brothers, scholars, activists stand firmly against FGM. They are our allies, and they are essential. The voices dominating courtrooms and parliaments do not speak for all.

Ten Years of Progress Under Threat

Ten years ago, a powerful anti-FGM movement took root in The Gambia. Through community work, survivor testimony, advocacy, and courage, we made real progress. Silence was broken. Laws were passed. Girls were protected.

Now, ten years later, the tables are turning.

The repeal attempt in Parliament, the constitutional challenge, and the rhetoric being aired in court all signal a coordinated effort to roll back hard-won gains. It feels, painfully, like being pushed back to square one; forced once again to justify why girls deserve bodily autonomy and safety.

This is why calls to review and strengthen the global anti-FGM strategy are not academic exercises. They are urgent. The opposition has adapted. They are organising. They are reframing harm as rights. We must do the same smarter, stronger, and more strategically.

We Will Not Go Back

I speak not out of hatred, but out of frustration and love.

Love for the girls growing up in this country.
Love for the mothers who live in fear and secrecy.
Love for a future where Gambian girls are not born into pain disguised as tradition.

We cannot move backwards.
We cannot dress harm as belief.
And we will not be silent while our daughters are put at risk.

This moment demands courage, but also strategy. It demands survivor-centred advocacy, strong legal defence of the ban, community engagement that does not compromise on human rights, and solidarity across genders, generations, and borders.

The fight against FGM has never been easy.
But it has always been necessary.

And we are not done.

MamLisa Camara

MamLisa Camara is a leading grassroots campaigner with extensive experience in community development, as well as women and children’s rights programs. Her activism is supported by the Soroptimist International, a worldwide volunteer service organization for women who work for peace, and to improve the lives of women and girls. She is also the National Coordinator for Safe Hands for Girls in Gambia.