#National News

SGBV could affect socio-economic development of nations if...

Jan 27, 2021, 11:55 AM | Article By: Jarra Cham

The head of Prosecution and Legal Affairs of The Gambia Police Force, Commissioner Abdoulie Sanneh has said that, Sexual and Gender Based Violence if not mitigated can affect the Socio-economic development of nations and The Gambia is not an exception.

He made these remarks while representing the Inspector General of Police at the opening ceremony of a-four-day training held at the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority on Tuesday.

“The continuous capacity building of all stakeholders such as justice actors are very necessary if we as a nation are to make any positive gains in the fight against this menace,” he said.

He said that, promoting justice for victims and survivors of sexual violence in The Gambia will immensely empower women and children to achieve their desired goals.

The British High Commissioner to The Gambia, David Belgrove OBE acknowledged that, violence and abuse are terrible crimes which should have no place in any society.

He therefore called on the public to unite in ending violence against women and provide a safe and just place where survivors of violence can speak up and seek justice.

“We are all responsible for shifting the narrative from blaming the survivors to ensuring the accountability of perpetrators, and for providing preventive measures,” he stressed.

The representative of the National Human Rights Commission Fatou Gaye, said her office recently formed a committee of sexual harassment in work places.

She added that, NHRC have also been providing training on gender based violence recalling that, the national human rights commission had trained media practitioners on reporting on gender based violence and rules governing reporting on women, girls and gender violence.

Gaye described the training as timely as it would help enhance knowledge of participants on prosecution of cases of sexual violence.