In a First, Gambia Ratifies AU Convention on Violence Against Women and Girls

Banjul (TDI): In a vote that has placed a small West African nation at the forefront of a continent-wide human rights movement, The Gambia has become the first African country to ratify the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.

The National Assembly approved the ratification on Tuesday, with Gender Minister Fatou Kinteh presenting the motion before lawmakers. The vote was unanimous.

The convention is a legally binding continental framework designed to prevent and eliminate all forms of gender-based violence while strengthening protection mechanisms, access to justice, and institutional responses across member states.

The Gambia signed the convention on July 11, 2025, during the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and subsequently acceded to it through a Cabinet decision on January 8, 2026.

The Gambia has become the first country to ratify the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU-CEVAWG), following approval by the National Assembly. pic.twitter.com/BnumJWxxyw

— African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (@achpr_cadhp) June 10, 2026

The AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU-CEVAWG) was adopted at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in February 2025. It is Africa’s first continent-wide legally binding instrument of its kind.

Violence against women and girls remains a pervasive challenge that transcends regional, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries, manifesting in forms including domestic violence, female genital mutilation, early and forced marriage, sexual violence in conflict settings, workplace harassment, and abuse in public and online spaces.

Minister Kinteh noted that such violence is largely sustained by entrenched gender power imbalances and social norms that perpetuate inequality.

The country has already laid significant legislative groundwork, including the Domestic Violence Act, the Sexual Offences Act, the Children’s Act, and the Women’s Amendment Act prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation. Ratification of the AU convention, she argued, builds on that foundation and elevates it to a continental standard.

Minister Kinteh described the ratification as a historic milestone that cements The Gambia’s commitment to protecting women and girls from abuse and discrimination across all spheres of life, adding that it “transforms last year’s signing into binding legal obligations, aligning our national laws with Africa’s first continent-wide framework.”