Search Results for: circumcision

The Gambia’s Supreme Court is weighing whether the country’s 2015 ban on female genital mutilation is unconstitutional — a challenge brought by religious traditionalists who say the prohibition violates their rights to culture and religion. The outcome in Almamy Gibba and Others v. Attorney General will test whether a cultural practice can claim constitutional protection [...]

The Parliament of Gambia voted Monday to maintain a 2015 ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) by rejecting a controversial bill which sought to reverse the prohibition and legalize the practice of female circumcision. The Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024, introduced in March 2024, aimed to repeal the ban and introduce the option of “consent” for [...]

Gambian lawmakers endorsed recommendations presented by the Joint Committee on Health and Gender on Monday to maintain the country’s ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in anticipation of an upcoming vote later this month on the potential decriminalization of the practice. The recommendations were adopted with 35 members voting in favor, 17 voting against and [...]

United Nations child rights experts on Monday praised the new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure , which grants children access to international human rights protections by...

Joseph La Rue, Alliance Defending Freedom

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday announced that a legal instrument, which grants children access to international human rights protections, will go into effect in April. The Optional...

An Israeli Rabbinical Court has ordered a woman to circumcise her son against her will or face daily fines. The ruling was issued by a three-rabbi panel after the boy's parents filed for divorce, and...

A UN independent rights expert on Friday called on the Benin government to better protect the rights of children after a visit to the country reportedly revealed widespread abuse and exploitation. UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children,...

Sweden's Ombudsman for Children Fredrik Malmberg called for the country to ban infant male circumcision on Saturday, claiming the practice violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child . In...

The German Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill that explicitly permits male infant circumcision . The law comes in response to a Cologne state court ruling that...