A two day workshop on civil /military relationship organized  by the Media Agenda came to an end at the Baobab Holiday Resort on Thursday  May 14 2008 presentations were delivered from the media and the security.

The editor of Foroyaa newspaper Sam Sarr presented a paper on Human Right Awareness as development tool. Sarr referred to the constitution of the Gambia which he said makes it possible for the people of the Gambia to exercises their rights

The Fire Service public relations officer, (PRO) Ms Haddy Bah appealed to the media to help sensitize the public on the roles of the fire fighters.  She said the journalists should educate the masses about the role of the fire fighters, she disagreed with some of the journalists who indicated that some of her men do not even know where the location of the hydrants where. She went on to say that they have a training school where new intakes are trained and shown the various locations of the hydrants .A call was made on Media Agenda to include the judiciary in such workshops .

ASP Yero S.S Baldeh in his presentation on arrests and detentions, said there must be a reason of arresting someone, he said there are two types of arrests which are, arrest with warrant and one without a warrant .Arrest with warrant comes from the magistrate, the other can be done by police officers or even civilians.

Civilians can arrest where no police officers are, but less than one condition that the person or persons are taken to the nearest police station without beatings or harassments.

 ASP Baldeh said a police officer can arrest a poerson for hours without telling him what offence he or she has committed because if he does, it might tamper with their investigations.

He said some of these people need to be squeezed   in order to get the hidden information from them which they need to know. He said there is no space for detainees in some police stations like Manjai and Bakoteh station, in such cases they are taken to Sere kunda station. The officers make sure that before detaining any person, he or she is search properly for the simple reason that the person doe not have anything that will harm him or her.

Other presenters included Ndey Tapha Sosseh President of the Gambia Press Union, who talks on Gender she said there is a good deal of misunderstanding about the meaning of ‘gender’ which is often seen as synonymous with the word women. The word gender now embraces the socially determined characteristics of men and women and the social organization of relations between them. She said due to these disadvantages, the UN and other organizations have been putting a great emphasis on the position of women in society. Focusing on projects and programmes such as the women in development and ‘women and development initiatives.

The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Madani Senghore of the Gambia Navy.