Child
Protection Alliance (CPA) with funding from Save the Children International on
16 August 2017 validated the budget analysis of child protection in The Gambia
report, at the Baobab Holiday Resort.
CPA
hired a consultant to conduct the budget analysis of child protect in The Gambia, focusing on the
national budget as well as the budgets of three Local Government Authorities:
Kanifing Municipal Council, Brikama Area Council and Basse Area Council.
The
budget analysis examined three thematic indicators, namely: visibility of the
National Child Protection Strategy in the medium-term financial planning and
funding proposals; public participation, including children, in the budgeting
process and public access level to critical budget information.
In
his welcoming remarks, Lamin Fatty, Program Officer at CPA, said government has
undertaken a commitment to the ratification of certain international
conventions and instruments on the rights of the child.
He
noted that child related issues involve money and commitment but lamented there
has been an absence in effective coordination mechanism at national level.
Mr
Fatty added that regardless of state income, state needs to fulfill its
obligation through the provision, protection, participation and promotion of
the rights of the child.
State
needs to mobilise sufficient domestic resources to realise children rights,
according to him.
In
making budgetary allocation the best interest of the child should be the
government’s consideration, he said.
Nfamara
Dabo, vice chairperson of CPA Board of Directors, in his statement, pointed out
that ratifying legal instruments and development of national legal frameworks
alone does not make the country realise its commitment in fulfilling the rights
and welfare of children.
They
must take a step further to ensure the required resources; human, material and
financial are mobilised for their effective implementation and enforcement, he
said.
Mr
Dabo called on government to consider the welfare and rights of children,
especially in relation to survival, protection, development and participatory
rights during budgetary allocations.
Fanta
Bai Secka, the Director Department of Social Welfare, in her opening statement,
also noted that children in The Gambia like in all other parts of the world
face abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence from which they need to be
protected by those under whose care they are.
She
expressed the view that investing in children is the most productive pathway to
long term economic prosperity of The Gambia where 49 per cent of the population
is below the age of 18 years.
According
to her, government is committed to the protection of her children from all
forms of violence, abuse and exploitation.
Violence
against children happen in private and public settings in many different forms,
she noted, saying it was the responsibility of all and sundry to ensure children
are protected from all forms of violence.
