From the article:
Advocacy group Equality Now said criminalisation was a crucial step in the fight against female circumcision, though it noted that more than half of the 92 countries where FGM is practised have laws banning it.
The prevalence of FGM among girls in Gambia has fallen precipitously since its ban was enacted, according to U.N. figures."If the law is reversed in Gambia, there is a risk that the advocacy efforts in subsequent countries ... will fail or go back," said Caroline Lagat, a programme officer at Equality Now.
Gambia's ban, adopted under autocratic ex-president Yahya Jammeh, has faced pushback, particularly since President Adama Barrow came to power in 2017. Three women were fined last August for carrying out FGM on eight infant girls, becoming the first people convicted under the law.
Gambia's Supreme Islamic Council responded to the verdict by saying female circumcision was one of the virtues of Islam.
Members of parliament have come out both in favour of and against the bill. Jaha Dukureh, an anti-FGM campaigner in Gambia, said she was confident the bill would be voted down but that activists like herself faced an uphill battle.
Michèle Eken, a senior researcher at Amnesty International in Dakar, said reversing the ban on FGM would set a worrisome precedent. "It will simply will be disastrous for women's rights, not only in Gambia, but in the region," she said. "If this is passed, then what's next?"