By: Sulayman Waan
Dr. Isatou Touray, minister of Health and Social Welfare has stressed that government is committed to enforce Female Genital Mutilation Cutting (FGM\c) laws to ensure women and girls are protected from FGM\c early marriage among other harmful traditional practice in the Gambia.
Dr. Touray made the remarks yesterday at the opening of Wassu Kafo Gambia, two day international forum on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), held at Coral Beach Hotel in Brufut Heights.
According to her, the country National Development Plan of 2018- 2021 had captured the concern of women and children to ensure their wellbeing.
“FGM\c was a taboo subject and few people were willing to engage the advocacy and social mobilization process to address the issues of FGM in the country,” she said.
The renowned women right activist described FGM\c as a blatant violence against women and girls as well as social norm, adding it is seeing in a wider context of violence and discrimination against this people.
“Therefore, FGM\c is considered as a development issue from local to global which allows all and sundry to engage in the process of change as migration is real phenomenon that we all have to engage,” he noted.
She reiterated that government as primary duty bearer is dedicated to create an enabling environment for women and children to ensure real protection, adding the new National Reproductive Health Policy 2017- 2026 had acknowledged the needs to work with partners to ensure the wellbeing of women and girls in the Smiling Coast of West Africa.
Dr. Touray cited that policy has taken its consideration to critical issues of concerns from the IPD programmes action, adding among the key propose of the policy is to address the unaccepted high rate of maternal, perinatal, child mobility and mortality as well as the persistent of socio cultural practices and family health values.
“The 2017- 2026 policy strategy [7.1] which is gender, harmful traditional practices and men engagement in the reproductive maternal, perinatal and child health programme .The objective of the policy is to strengthen advocacy for gender equity and equality, gender based violence, harmful traditional practices and care for the victims,” she revealed.
She commended Wassu Kafo under the leadership of Professor Adriana Kaplan for its enormous contribution in helping the ending of the harmful traditional practices in the society, saying forum is instrumental in eradicating FGM\c in the country.
“Government is aware that effort to eradicate FGM\c and other harmful traditional practices required active consultation with the victims as well as the custodian of that cultural practice,” she noted.
