Some thirty
journalists drawn from both the print and electronic media recently concluded a
three-day capacity building training on women’s rights.
The training, which aimed at enlightening journalists more about women’s rights and other issues of human rights, was organised by the GPU at its Secretariat in Fajara.
The training availed reporters the opportunities to interact and share ideas and experiences on the rights and violation of women’s rights.
It also exposed the participants on various thematic areas, among them the Maputo Protocol, ethical issues in reporting about women and girls in the media, the Domestic Violence Bill, and the Sexual Offences Bill,
In his welcome remarks, Babucarr Ceesay, 1st vice president of GPU, expressed delight in organizing such training for local journalists.
He said the purpose of the forum was not only to gather at the GPU and just talk about issues of women alone, but also to talk about humanity.
He further thanked the participants for their commitment and high sense of demonstration in answering to the GPU call by attending the “very important forum”.
Mr Ceesay further advised the participants to engage themselves more in creativity in advocating for women’s rights in news and feature write-ups.
In his official opening remarks, the secretary general of the GPU, Gibairu Janneh, said it is essential for journalists to be trained on women’s rights since according to him protecting their rights is everybody’s business but journalists have crucial role to play.
He said it is unfortunate that in the new media there is so much hesitation in mainstreaming women’s issues as breaking news stories and front page in the newspapers, which has created a vacuum.
He urged the participants to take the training seriously and share the knowledge gained from it with their colleagues.
