Gambia: ‘Viable avenue for citizens to report human rights violations’

The tiny West African nation of The Gambia is often criticized for alleged human rights violations.

Sioux City Human Rights Commission (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The creation of a Human Rights Commission in The Gambia will provide a “viable avenue” for the citizenry to lodge their complaints on human rights and other violations, according to Claire Mckenzie.

The acting General Secretary, Commonwealth Secretariat, who was speaking last week at a validation of a document on the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in The Gambia, support the significance of an independent human rights institution.

Mckenzie said the proposed NHRC can help draft legislations that are passed through parliament to ensure they are in conformity with international human rights obligations ratified by The Gambia.

NGOs picks out Africa’s plus and minus on human rights

Human Rights Defenders at the NGOs Forum April 25-27, 2011 (Photo Credit: M.S. Joof/TNBES)

‘The Gambia will soon have a functional independent human rights commission’

A session of the ACHPR in Gambia, 2009 (Photo credit: Guillaume Colin & Pauline Penot)

The Gambia will soon be part of some African States that have a functional independent Human Rights Commission, the country’s Justice Minister Lamin Jobarteh said on Tuesday.

He hopes this process will be expedited as the government has commenced consultations on the establishment of a national Human Rights Commission with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

We cannot hope African governments will uphold legal provisions

Human Rights Defenders at the Forum on the Participation of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the 49th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR and the 23rd African Human Rights Book Fair in Banjul from April 25-27, 2011 (Photo Credit: M.S. Joof/TNBES)