The symposium was also geared towards strengthening the partnership and collaboration between the Gambia’s umbrella body for persons with disability, The Gambia Federation of Disabled, and media entities in The Gambia.
The chair of The Gambia Federation of the Disabled, Muhammed Krubally, magistrate of Banjul Magistrate’s Court said: “It has been realised that the media is an indispensable party in terms of recognition or knowing the fundamental rights of person with disability, and it is realised that the media plays a crucial role in ensuring the wide dissemination of disability matters.
He told attendees that the media is indeed powerful and fundamental in the sense that it could report any infringement of the rights of person with disabilities.
“So because of this important role played by the media, it is prudent that the media personnel need to be informed, trained and capacitated on the matters of person with disability,” he expressed, adding that it is the media which can portray disability issues in good or bad light.
For the first phase (day) of the training, the media professionals were taken through, inter alia, the role of media on disability issues and legal framework surrounding disability rights and matter by Magistrate Krubally, in his capacity as a disability stakeholder and chairperson of The Gambia Federation of the Disabled.
Sainey Camara, National Focal Person on Disability, also exposed participants to the importance of awareness raising in connection with Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, as well as the Persons with Disability Act.
