Gambia: Legal Practitioners And Administrators Sensitized On Human Rights Procedures

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FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

12 July 2008
Posted to the web 5 September 2008

Yaya Bajo

A three-day sensitization workshop for legal practitioners and administrators on human rights procedures for women opened on Wednesday, 11 June, 2008, at Jerma Beach Hotel and Resort in Kololi.

Deputizing for the Vice President and Secretary of State for women Affairs, Marie Saine-Firdaus, SoS for Justice, said that the political and economic challenges faced today by many states in the developing world demand the full contribution of human resources. She added that it is imperative that all stakeholders work towards the empowerment of women for sustained development and for meeting the aims set in the Millennium Development Goals.

"The crucial issue here remains, for me, the help and support women can receive from you as legal practitioners. I therefore challenge you to assist and offer your expertise to ensure that proper structures and laws are in place to improve the situation of women, especially in the area of access to justice," she remarked.

She added that access to justice is the right of every individual, but it is an open secret that women, being the poorest in society, they can hardly afford the cost of going to seek redress or get legal advice on issues affecting them.

Anna J. Foster, Executive Director of African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), in her statement, highlighted that the drafting of international and national instruments with a view to protecting and promoting the rights and freedoms of women comes from a wider social movement seeking to establish equality between the sexes and abolishing gender-based discrimination and abuse. "From the earliest inklings of gender equality to the Decade of Women's Rights, the cornerstone Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Conference, the world has demonstrated an active interest in the welfare of its women," she explained.

For his part, Mr. Berry Wells, US Ambassador to The Gambia, said that the welfare of women and children often referred to as the disadvantaged of our world, should appear as a top priority on top of the agenda of any country that is serious about meeting the aims of the MDGs. "It is in this context that the Embassy of the United States was motivated to assist in the area of capacity building for key stakeholders with the goal of promoting women's empowerment," he said.

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