Grassroot communities, mainly women from the Kombos and Fonis in the Western Region of the country last Thursday formulated strategies to popularise the protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

The protocol is determined to ensure that the rights of women are promoted, realised and protected in order to enable them to enjoy fully all their human rights.  Adopted in Mozambique in 2003, the protocol has been ratified by 20 African states including The Gambia.  

The formulation of popularisation strategies was the result of a three-day training workshop held at The Gambia College in Brikama.  Organised by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in partnership with solidarity of African Women’s Rights in Kenya, the training was conducted in Wollof and Mandinka using posters which gave messages on the various provision of the protocol in the local languages.
 
Participants were drawn from FAWEGAM mother’s club, members of the peace and mediation team, women councillors and trainers from the Community Skills Improvement Project of the Department of Community Development based in Region Two. They received lectures on the rights of women, good and harmful practices, women’s life and their integrity and security.

Resource person and gender activist, Aminata Sillah-Sarr, gave an exposition of the dogmas of the protocol on women’s rights with particular emphasis on equal rights and inheritance, economic, social and welfare rights as well as reproductive health and housing.

The training sessions were punctuated by questions, discussions and group work which came up with action plans and formulated strategies for popularisation of the protocol at community level.

The governor of Western Region, Lamin Sanneh congratulated the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies and its partners for the "initiative" and requested that the training be extended to other regions in the country "as it is our responsibility to ensure that women are empowered to enjoy their full rights and freedoms".  

Governor Sanneh also spoke on the current observance of 16 days of activism - "a time when we think of all those violence perpetrated against women worldwide.  Some women are battered by their husbands and cannot get help, young girls are raped by family members and have no one to talk to or no access to assistance".

Participants re-echoed Governor Sanneh’s request to extend the training to other regions in the country and deplored recent news of carnal knowledge of an eleven-year old girl by a 52-year old man.  Participants called for the maximum punishment to be imposed on the perpetrator.