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Gambia News : Gambian rights group carries its anti-FGM campaign to immigrants in Europe

A release received from the committee’s head office in Banjul on Friday states that GAMCOTRAP, in partnership with AMAM, a women’s rights organization against FGM in Spain conducted sensitization meetings in 10 villages and towns in Girona, in the Spanish Catalunya district over a 12 day period.

According to the release, the Spanish demarche is being spearheaded by Dr. Isatou Touray, Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP, their religious adviser Imam Baba Leigh, Programme Coordinator Amie Bojang Sissoho and Bakary Tamba, the National Coordinator for TOSTAN, one of their partner NGOs.

The release adds that after their programme in Spain, Dr. Touray will also proceed to Norway to present a paper on FGM under the auspices of MUSU Kangbeng Kafo, a women’s group of Gambians in Norway.

GAMCOTRAP, which has registered remarkable successes in rural Gambia at making women circumcisers drop the knife, has embarked on its European campaign to create awareness on women and children’s rights, traditional practices and the Spanish government’s protocol against FGM, the release states.

It notes that the participants are African immigrants, mainly from The Gambia as well as Senegal, Mali and Mauritania. Moreover, the release notes that the professional groups from the Spanish ministries of Justice, Health, Immigration and Social Services were also sensitized on FGM and how to address families.

During the course of this "bridge building" activity, it was emphasized that Spanish law is against FGM and girls born in Spain are protected against the practice even in The Gambia. Apart from a six to a 12 year jail term, the punishment includes seizure of the children by the state.

Opportunity is provided during the programme to update and inform Gambians in Spain about the Children’s Act and the ratification of the African protocol on women’s rights by The Gambia, the release states.

The release adds that the delegation held discussions with the Catahunya development agency, the secretariat responsible for immigration matters and the representatives of the Spanish department of religious affairs with a view to giving feedback on the meetings with Gambians in particular and to make suggestions on the way forward.