PRO Hope International - The Gambia, an organisation engage in gender and reproductive health issues, has joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s 16 days of activism against gender based violence.

According to a press release, issued by the said organisation,  this year’s theme is “Demanding implementation, challenging obstacles and ending violence against women." The release futher added that the organisation has this year trained 32 gender-sensitive peer educators made up of representatives from the Gambia Press Union, Gambia Teachers Union, and various women and youth organisations in the country.

According to the release, programmes planned for the period include a peace march, ribbon campaigns, symposium and sensitization programmes in several communities around the Kombos.

“At PRO Hope International - The Gambia, it is our conviction that the spirit, which moves a suicide bomber to crash a plane into a building housing thousands of people is the same spirit, which makes a man delighted in battering his wife, and if given the opportunity he could develop into a suicide bomber.  To achieve genuine world peace therefore, the principle of gender sensitivity must be inculcated into every activity;  culture, religion, family as well as individual lives. One sex does not make an individual anymore or less a human being.  Until we all come to appreciate our need for one another,  regardless of sex, race or creed, global peace will remain a mirage.”

The relese also added that the current emphasis on sustainable development, a concept determined by people’s perceptions of the need to conserve the available resources for the future generation, can only bear lasting dividend in the context of gender sensitivity, adding that selfishness and greed, which breeds the tendency to manipulate and exploit those we see as being weaker, negates the principle of sustainable development.

Pain - The Gambia, calls on all stakeholders to take up the challenge and join hands with various groups to focus on this year’s theme noting that stakeholders are the solution to eradicating the evils of gender violence, the release concluded.