The Speaker of the West Coast Region Youth Parliament, Hon. Aminata Hydara, and her deputy, Hon. Samba Bah, recently returned from an International Human Rights training programme in Senegal.
The forum was organised by Amnesty International in collaboration with CODAP (Centre de Conseils et D'appui Pour les Jeunes en Matiere de Droits de l'homme); a Swiss NGO specialized in training Youths on Human right issues.
The weeklong programme was held in the Senegalese town of Mbour from 29 November to 3 December 2010.
The theme for the convergence, which brought together participants from Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Senegal and The Gambia, was "Youths and the promotion of human rights."
Speaking to this paper upon their return, Hon. Hydara said the training was good and empowering. The programme didn't only offer them the chance to learn more about human rights and its promotion; it also gave them the opportunity to share experiences and best practices, she said.
"It enabled us to learn from each other and to improve on our various organisations," she explains.
Hon. Hydara said further that the event was full of experience as "we were taught about human rights starting from its origin and looking at the sources, its evolution and the development up to the 21st Century".
The training also covered human rights instruments as well as the tools, systems and mechanisms in place for the protection and promotion of human rights.
She thanked the organisers for the training and said she would always share the knowledge gained from it with young people of The Gambia.
"We really learned a lot and everything is useful to us as youth leaders," Speaker Hydara says.
