The CNDA overturned the decision of the OFPRA who rejected the asylum request of three female applicants belonging to the Wolof ethnic group in Gambia, on the basis that the prevalence rate of FGM/C in this ethnic group is low (12.3%).

The CNDA noted that children and women who have not undergone FGM/C, constitute a social group in a population in which FGM/C is commonly practiced to the point of constituting a social norm. The court emphasized that the existence of a social group is not dependent of the number of people it is composed of, but on the way the surrounding society and institutions view the members of the group. Thus, the court highlighted that variations in the prevalence rates of FGM/C are useful to measure the presence and evolution of the practice of FGM/C within these populations to establish the possible link between the persecution and membership in the social group of children and women who have not undergone FGM/C. However, the court specified that other factors besides the prevalence  rate must be taken into account  including geographical, ethnic, cultural, social or family factors, and that it is the responsibility of the asylum seeker to provide all the detailed information in this regard to substantiate the risk she faces.

The court stated that in Gambia, even though there is legislation in place which forbids the practice, FGM/C remains a social norm with a prevalence rate of 75.7%. The CNDA noted that comparatively, the prevalence rate of the practice within the Wolof ethnic group is low. Nevertheless, the court argued that the applicants are still at risk of excision, as their grandmothers, who were identified as their main persecutors in the event of their return to Gambia, belong to the Mandinka ethnic group in which the prevalence rate of the practice is 95.3%. The court also argued that the applicants' parents would not be able to protect them, and that their mothers had also been subjected to this practice. Thus, the court held that although the applicant's belong to an ethnic group with a low prevalence rate, due to their direct family environment, the applicants have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their membership in the social group of children, adolescents and women exposed to FGM/C, who are unable to effectively rely on the protection of the Gambian authorities.