Banjul, The Gambia – The death of a one-month-old baby girl is sparking outrage in The Gambia and renewing calls to protect children from female genital mutilation (FGM). The infant was taken to a hospital in the capital, Banjul, on Sunday with severe bleeding and was pronounced dead on arrival.
While an official autopsy is still pending, many in the country have linked the death to complications from FGM. Police have since arrested two women for their alleged involvement in the incident.
The death has been widely condemned by rights groups and local officials. Gambian women’s rights activist Fatou Baldeh called FGM a “brutal, senseless act” in a post on X, adding, “FGM is not culture, it’s cruelty.”
A local lawmaker, Abdoulie Ceesay, said the child’s death should serve as a “turning-point” for the nation to strengthen its commitment to protecting every child’s right to life and dignity. The Gambia outlawed FGM in 2015, but the practice persists in some communities. The World Health Organization defines FGM as the partial or total removal of external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
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