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Gambia News : Africa rights defenders meet in Banjul
A Gambian minister on Sat urday expressed concern about human rights violations in parts of Africa as human rights defenders began a three-day meeting in the Gambian capital, Banjul, to review the situation.
'Africa has a long way to go in relation to its development and human rights record,' Edward Gomez, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said at the ope ning of a Forum of NGOs and the 47th Ordinary Session of African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR).
It is organised by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) and ACHPR in collaboration with United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Gomez noted that human rights violations continue on a daily basis with Niger, Somalia, Guinea Conakry and Sudan being in the limelight.
However, he said, there was a marked progress on improving democracy and human rights in some areas in the continent, although a lot more remained to be done in other parts.
The forum, which will witness the 21st human rights bookfFair from 8-10 May, is also aimed at fostering closer collaboration among NGOs with the ACHPR to promote and protect human rights in Africa.
The forum will also discuss United Nations Resolution 1325, the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Gomez said ACHPR was very important in the work of human rights in Africa, as it was the only body mandated to promote, protect and interpret the African charter on human and peoples' rights, the main regional instrument that directed the rhythm of other Africa regional instruments on human rights.
Gomez said the Gambian government recognized the efforts of the ACDHRS in facili tating the forum to enable NGOs to fully participate in the work of the African Commission, which was mandated to oversee the implementation and interpretation of the rights and duties set up on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
'We are all witnessed that NGOs have played and continue to play unprecedented roles in setting international human rights standards and documenting human rights violations to their advocacy role in lobbying for the effective enforcement of the provisions enshrined in human rights instruments,' he said.
'We have witnessed a multiplicity in the numbers of NGOs in the African continent, which have undoubtedly manifested in the increase in pluralism and democracy, especially when we take stock of the fact that authoritarian and paternalistic governments have either outlawed or restricted NGOs in their operations.'
The Executive Director of ACDHRS Hannah Forster said the forum on the participation of NGOs in the work of the African Commission had over the years been characterized by the serious deliberations.
She said the resolutions and recommendations passed by the Forum to the Commission had continued to received attention, as they gave a true picture of the human rights situation in the continent.
The executive director said that the challenges were immense but as human rights NGOs and civil society organisations, they must continue to live up to the ideals they preached in order to consolidate the foundation already laid.
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- Give me a Break Minister..such kind of a human rights meeting in Banjul surely Abusive to Gambians as their own Brothers are Dying in their jails lack of Proofing their Guiltiness and now this. what a shameless act of the African rights Defender!
(Posted on May 12, 2010, 10:32 AM IAL Staff)
- the rights of the gambians are not defended. to meet in banjul is very good so that mr gomiz to know that some thing have to be doun in the gambia's H.RIGHTS problem.
(Posted on May 11, 2010, 3:02 AM A.A.SAMBOU)
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