Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, vice president and secretary of state for Women’s Affairs, yesterday opened a validation workshop on the analytical study on the identification of Gender Discriminatory Provisions and Gender Equality Caps in the National Laws of ECOWAS member states, at the Jerma Beach Hotel in Kololi.

In her opening remarks, Vice President Njie-Saidy, on behalf of the Gambian leader, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, expressed gratitude and appreciation to the ECOWAS Gender Centre for choosing The Gambia as the host of this very important workshop. She noted that the session will give them the opportunity to once again play a major role in strengthening the gender dimensions of ongoing regional integration processes.

“The quest for gender equality is not only a development issue, it is also a human rights issue. The widespread gender inequalities and disparities existing in the ECOWAS region derive essentially from the social, cultural, economic and political injustices to which women and girls have been subjected over the years,” VP Njie-Saidy remarked. According to her, the justice system in the ECOWAS region, therefore, has a fundamental role to play in correcting the injustices that women and girls in the region have suffered over the past centuries and in guaranteeing equal rights and equal treatment before the law, irrespective of gender, race, class, religion or ethnicity.

She expressed optimism that the outcome of the workshop will set the stage for very concrete interventions that will seek to correct the adequacy of our laws in meeting the needs and aspirations of the citizenry. Towards the end of her speech, VP NJie-Saidy finally hoped for a successful deliberation. Speaking earlier, Madam Aminata Dibba, director of the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC), on behalf of Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, president of the ECOWAS Commission, expressed heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to President Jammeh and the people of The Gambia, for the warm welcome accorded them, as well as the excellent conditions put in place for the successful hosting of the workshop.

The EGDC director observed that in recent years, there has been a growing trend of abuse of the human rights of women, characterised by violence, discrimination and other forms of social, cultural, economic and political injustices. “The effective integration of our sub-region will continue to elude us if our status still contain provisions that discriminate against over 52% of the ECOWAS people. Similarly, the sustainable development of our sub-region will continue to be a mirage if gaps exist in our laws that undermine the ability of a majority of our people to lead dignified and self fulfilling lives,” Dibba revealed.

She highlighted that it is for this reason that the EGDC undertook this analytical study with a view to identifying existing gender discriminatory provisions and gender gaps in the laws of ECOWAS member states, as a means to mapping out the appropriate measures to address the legislative dimensions of gender inequalities and discrimination against women in the ECOWAS region. She revealed that 13 out of the 15 ECOWAS member states have submitted their country reports.

The EGDC director finally explained that the purpose of the validation workshop is to enable various stakeholders to validate the harmonised report by thoroughly examining it and making the necessary contributions that will enrich the document and give it the regional outlook that it is supposed to have. Adelaide Sosseh chaired the opening ceremony.
 

VP receives UNECA officials

Earlier, on Friday, officials from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, called on Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy at her office in State House, Banjul.

Sizo D Mhlanga, chief ICT policy & development expert, who headed the delegation, was accompanied to State House by the director of ICT at the Department of State for Communication, Information and Information Technology, Ebrima Jobe, and some other senior personnel of that department. After their audience with Vice President Njie-Saidy, the UNECA official told journalists that their mission to The Gambia was part of efforts to ensure continuation of the ICT projects started with The Gambia government since 2003.

He said they are trying to develop and implement ICT policies for the country, which had been approved in 2006, and through which they are trying to equip the various offices with ICT system that will ensure efficiency in government service delivery and which will enable the people to keep track with the government’s activities to ensure transparency. Sizo D Mhlanga expressed hope that in a few years, they will embark on full implementation of these projects. Some of the projects planned with the government of The Gambia, Mhlanga told reporters, involved together to develop the national ICT policy and e-government.
 
The UNECA official observed that although the required basic ICT equipment for this policy implementation are available, during their study, they realised that most of the computers available are not connected to area networks, and that there is a limited internet connectivity in various offices. According to the official, already there is a proposed ICT master plan for the VP’s office, and they intend to locate a standardised local area network development for each of the units to enhance resource optimisation. Also in the minds of the officials is the fact that there are some ongoing projects that call for the creation of websites, such as the population services, for easy accessibility of data for relevant purposes.

On capacity building, Mhlanga told reporters that they are ready to build capacities in basic ICT skills and also in maintenance, networking and data security. During the course of their studies, Mhlanga added, they got to realise the need to have a data collection mechanism. He also revealed the existence of a project called ‘The women in government in Science and Technology’, which he said they intend to develop and implement in the education framework, putting gender equality at the forefront of societal issues.