Members of the National Assembly were on last Tuesday sensitized on the international protection of Refugees at a one-day forum organized by the United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the Paradise Suite Hotel.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Sekou Saho, Head of office UNHCR-The Gambia stated that the protection of refugees is primarily the responsibility of states and in this regards UNHCR mandate is to ensure that stakeholders are au-fait with refugee issues and to work collectively such as parliamentarians to address the worldwide refugee challenges. He indicated that last decades, the world has been undergoing significant transformations, which pose serious challenges to the capacity of states to respond to temporary displacement situations.

“With the challenging nature of armed conflict and the location of The Gambia, it becomes imperative that the Gambia remains in pursuit of not only finding durable solutions for refugees and the challenges associated with, but also ensuring that the necessary legal tools required to face the challenges”.

He added that in collaboration with the national assembly members’ durable solutions to refugee problem could be found, and collectively promote respect for refugees. He reveals that there are about over fourteen thousand refugees in The Gambia from countries such as Ivory Coast, Togo, Congo DRC, Somalia and with over six thousand refugees from neighboring Senegalese region of Casamance.

For his part, honorable Abdou Colley Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly said no country is immune to the risk of generating and receiving refugee’s flows. “The protection, challenges and solutions remains however the shared duty and responsibility of all states and a matter of fact respect for basic human rights” He noted.
He expresses that as national assembly members they have a vital role to play when it comes to refugee protections.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recently organized a training on international protection for members of the National Assembly of the Gambia. The training was designed to help law-makers to have a better understanding of international protection and general principle of refugee protection.
In his remarks at the official opening of the training, Mr Sekou Saho.