Jaha Dukureh (‘Jaha’s Promise’, BIFF) on banning FGM in Gambia

Jaha Dukureh is a Gambian women’s right activist and anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) campaigner. Her fight against FGM is feautured in the documentary “Jaha’s Promise”, which will be screened at BIFF 2017.

Jaha was subjected to female genital mutilation in Gambia when she was a little more than a week old. Becoming an activist she played a pivotal role in the banning of the FGM in the country. In this seminar we discuss:



– how she was able to lobby a renown dictator to abandoned a practice he supported for 21 years.

– The


backlash and current challanges the FGM movement is facing


– Her familys reaction coming from a very culturally and regigious community that has about 90 percent FGM prevalence rate

Jaha Dukureh is also the founder and executive director of Safe Hands for Girls, an organization working to end FGM, and is the lead campaigner in The Guardian’s End FGM Guardian Global Media Campaign. In April 2016, she was named to the 2016 Time 100 list.

Jaha Dukureh is visiting Bergen in relation to BIFF (Bergen International Film Festival), and the screening the documentary ‘Jaha’s Promise’ (2017) feauturing Jaha’s fight against FGM in Gambia.

JAHA’S PROMISE follows Jaha Dukureh. Having been subjected to the most extreme form for FGM herself, she makes the promise to her daughter that she will never be subjected to it. The documentary follows Jaha as she travels from the US to her native Gambia to confront her past, her family, her religion, country, its leaders, and the global community on behalf the 200 million girls and women who live with the consequences of FGM worldwide. Jaha becomes a lightning-rod for change in Gambia, leading to the eventual government ban on FGM and child marriage and a working relationship with the Obama administration.

Trailer:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAQldouaOLE

Croissants and coffee will be served.

Free and open to all!