United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024, Online Edition. Estimates 2024.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Source: Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) and ICF. 2021. The Gambia Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20. Banjul, The Gambia and Rockville, Maryland, USA: GBoS and ICF.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence in the last 12 months. Source: Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) and ICF. 2021. The Gambia Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20. Banjul, The Gambia and Rockville, Maryland, USA: GBoS and ICF.
(1) Raise awareness among women of their rights under the Domestic Violence Act and the Sexual Offences Act, the process for filing complaints about incidents of gender-based violence, and the sexual and gender-based violence hotline; (2) Address stigmatization of women who are victims of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, which deters them from reporting cases, by strengthening mandatory capacity-building programmes for judges, prosecutors, police, social workers, psychologists and health-care workers on gender-sensitive investigation and interrogation procedures in cases of gender-based violence against women, and on the strict application of legislation criminalizing such violence; (3) Ensure that women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence have access to effective remedies and protection, including emergency protection orders and support services, immediate issuance of medical examination certificates free of charge, adequate and accessible shelters, specialized assistance and rehabilitation; (4) Provide financial support to non-governmental organizations providing victim support services and operating shelters; (5) Ensure that complaints are effectively investigated and that the sentences imposed on perpetrators are commensurate with the gravity of the offence in order to address the culture of impunity; (6) Amend section 3 (3) of the Sexual Offences Act to specifically criminalize marital rape; (7) Abolish the practice of requiring corroboration of the evidence of complainants in sexual violence cases, punish miscarriage of justice in that regard and repeal section 180 (2) (a) and (c) of the Evidence Act; (8) Invest in the pilot scheme launched by the Women's Bureau to establish a gender management information system portal in several police stations in order to track cases and generate statistical data on gender-based violence, disaggregated by sex, age and relationship between the victim and the perpetrator.
(1) Address the cultural beliefs underlying the harmful practice of female genital mutilation, including by educating parents and traditional and religious leaders on the lifelong devastating effects on both the physical and mental health of girls and women, and by raising awareness of the criminalization of female genital mutilation; (2) Establish safe reporting mechanisms for health practitioners, teachers, social workers, and women and girls, and ensure that all reports are duly investigated and prosecuted and perpetrators are adequately punished, including when the act is committed across the border; (3) Improve access to support and rehabilitation services, as well as to reparation, including financial compensation, for women and girls who are victims of female genital mutilation, ensuring that they are protected from retaliation.
(1) Prevent and eliminate child marriage, including by raising awareness of the harmful effects and criminal nature of this practice, creating confidential and safe mechanisms for the reporting of cases of child marriage, providing mandatory capacity-building for religious and faith-based leaders, the judiciary, law enforcement officials, health professionals and social workers, with a view to ensuring the prosecution and adequate punishment of perpetrators, without exception, and providing adequate support to victims; (2) Amend sections 27 and 33 (5) of the Constitution and section 45 of the Women's Act to include a guarantee of women's equal rights in marriage, family relations and their dissolution, inheritance, child maintenance and custody, and ensure that judges apply these provisions in line with the Convention; (3) Adopt legislation explicitly prohibiting the practices of polygamy and levirate marriage, without exception, ensuring adequate penalties for non compliance.
(1) Strengthen the training of first responders, including law enforcement officers, border control personnel and health-care providers, on the early identification of victims and their referral to appropriate services for their protection and rehabilitation, ensuring that such protection is victim-centred and gender-responsive; (2) Raise awareness of the crime of trafficking in persons and how to report suspected cases, focusing on women and girls, teachers, parents and community leaders, in particular those who are living in poverty and in remote areas of the country; (3) Revise the Trafficking in Persons Act to bring it into conformity with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and build the capacity of the judiciary, prosecutors and law enforcement officers on the integration of a gender perspective into the enforcement of laws and the implementation of policies to address trafficking in women and girls; (4) Collect data on the number of reports, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and sentences of perpetrators of trafficking in women and girls, including in cases in which authorities may be complicit.
Gambia’s Constitution does not explicitly address violence against women and girls. It includes, however, broad gender equality, and non-discrimination provisions.
While not one whole stand-alone law, the Gambia does have three laws that address gender based violence:
-Women’s Act, 2010, prohibiting all forms of violence against women, and mandates State and institutional protections.
-Domestic Violence act 2013, criminalizing physical, sexual, economic, emotional, and verbal abuse within domestic relationships, authorizing police to arrest without a warrant.
-Sexual Offences Act, 2013, expanding the criminal definition of sexual assault and harassment.
The National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325, adopted in 2012, included strategies to combat VAWG as part of its broader goals on women, peace, and security.
There is currently no publicly available information on whether the plan continues to be implemented or if it has been renewed.