They made the remarks during the conclusion of a nationwide activity on the popularisation of concluding observations issued by the Committee of Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to The Gambia at the submission of its sixth periodic report to the Committee.
The nationwide activity brought together 30 participants from the seven regions of the country.
The objective of the activity was to engage state actors on states’ obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of women on the recommendations geared towards the full implementation of the Convention and other regional and domestic laws protecting the rights of women. It also served as an avenue to build the capacity of relevant CSOs on the promotion and popularisation of the articles of CEDAW in their advocacy.
The concluding observations of the sixth periodic report took place at NANa conference hall last Friday.
Fatou Gaye, senior legal officer at the National Human Rights Commission explained that, after The Gambia and NHRC submitted their reports in Geneva in October, a committee of 21 experts and United Nation's human rights treaty bodies responsible for the protection and promotion of the welfare of women globally held a dialogue and issued recommendations that require The Gambia to implement the recommendations.
She said it is mandatory upon them as assigned to popularise and educate people on the recommendations especially in relation to women’s right in The Gambia.
“We expect the government of The Gambia to implement most of the recommendations if not all. We will also work with relevant ministries in order to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women by advocacy and setting up of monitoring committees responsible for overseeing the effective implementation of the report,” she added.
Mary Sibi Jatta, gender and children welfare officer for the Gambia Police Force called on stakeholders with responsibility for the promotion and protection of women’s rights to closely work together for the effective implementation of the recommendations.
She added that the implementation of the recommendations will promote the rights of women and girls as well as enhance and ensure they achieve their fundamental human rights.
She also called on government to allocate more funds to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare to ensure they carry out their duties effectively.
Kaddy Janneh, gender officer at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare said the government continues to promote the welfare of women and children in the country.
According to her, government is also advocating for the implementation of Acts promoting the rights of women to ensure they have access to justice and is also promoting women sexual and reproductive rights.
She thus advocated for more funds to be allocated to the ministry in order to effectively fulfil it duties and combat all forms of discrimination against women and girls.
