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Unicef asks Gambia to implement laws to shelter children from FGM
Unicef has called on the Gambia government to greatly implement all laws that protect children in The Gambia from FGM.
On this year’s commemoration of the African Child, the UN children’s agency is calling for child-friendly justice system in line with the theme of this year’s commemoration.
Unicef said: “The Gambia has ten years to achieve the SDGs. Ten years to end extreme poverty, to achieve quality education, to reduce inequality, and to empower children and women. Ten years to provide access to justice for all, especially the most vulnerable in society: our children.
“For children to benefit from a child-friendly justice system, UNICEF is calling for the implementation of the following actions: the justice system to strongly enforce all laws that protect children in The Gambia, including from violence, abuse, discrimination, FGM/C, child marriage, and child labor; the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Judiciary to ensure that every child, everywhere in The Gambia has access to child-friendly justice by expanding the children’s court to cover the entire country.
“The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare to coordinate within the Government of the Gambia the full implementation of the Children’s Act to provide children with alternatives to detention and diversion such as community rehabilitation, community service, and counseling; the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare to coordinate all efforts, including at community level, to protect children, anywhere in the country, from violence, harm, and abuse; [and] the government, civil society, and all caregivers to empower children, including members of the Children’s National Assembly of The Gambia, to participate in the national discourse, and have their concerns listened to and addressed by the concerned decision makers”
Source___Standard Newspaper
NIGERIANS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FOR SEX TRAFFICKING
Two Nigerians, Lucy Malachi and Christiani Oranugu, have been taken into custody with trafficking young girls from Nigeria to The Gambia. Mr Oranugu is known to have fled the sphere.
According to the particulars of the offences, between October 2017 and January 2018, Ms Malachi and Mr Oranugu trafficked 16-year-old Benita Robert, 18-year-old Peace Sunday, 18-year-old Blessing Effiong and Grace Ita from Nigeria to The Gambia for the purpose of misused and prostitution.
Immigration Officer Samba Bah said Miss Robert told him that when she started, she used to sleep with up to 15 men a night for a hundred dalasis per session.
Upon her return, while bleeding, she would hand over the payments to Ms Malachi who would count the money and throw a tantrum at her D1,500 poor pickings.
He said Ms Malachi would nag her and tell her that the take home for sex workers should not be less than D2,000 every night.
Mr Bah said Miss Robert was moved to another sex spot called“Class One” and started collecting D2,000 per night.
‘Officer Bah said Miss Robert was sad with selling herself to men and one night left for work with her clothes in her bag and at the end of her unwanted rounds, and instead of returning to give her pimp the payments for the night, reported herself to the Sanchaba Sulay Jobe Police Station.’
Ms Malachi is charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to defile, trafficking in person, acting as intermediary for the purpose of trafficking, exportation and importation of persons from and into The Gambia, money laundering, procuration, and female person living on earnings of prostitution or persistently soliciting.
The two traffickers are alleged of receivingD500,000 as proceeds of crime from the four young women.
The matter was heard before Justice Ebrima Ba Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court yesterday.
Source___Standard News
Premier League Resumes As Players Take Knee In Racism Protest
The Premier League resumed yesterday after a three-month hiatus, with players taking the knee at the start of a goalless draw between Aston Villa and Sheffield United overshadowed by a goalline controversy.
Covid-19 limitations mean the 92 games remaining after the 100-day shutdown are being crammed into less than six weeks.
Defeat for Manchester City, who played off against Arsenal later on Wednesday, would leave Liverpool on the brink of their first English top-flight title for 30 years.
In front of a large global audience, players and staff protested racial injustice for about 10 seconds in solidarity with worldwide protests following the death of American George Floyd while in police custody.
“In the first Premier League fixture of Project Restart both clubs hope that the act of ‘taking a knee’ will send a strong message of unity and amplify the many messages of support from Premier League players and the wider football family,” the clubs said in a statement.
Manchester City and Arsenal players also took a knee before kick-off at the Etihad.
Credit___Channels TV
Japan Former-Justice Minister And Wife Taken Into Custody for Vote-Buying Scandal
Japanese prosecutors earlier today arrested the country’s former justice minister — a close ally of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — and his lawmaker wife over allegations of vote-buying during her electoral campaign last in 2019.
The scandal is the latest headache for Abe, who has seen his approval ratings sink over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and faced criticism over alleged attempts to name a favoured candidate to the role of prosecutor general.
Katsuyuki Kawai resigned as justice minister in October after a separate scandal involving his wife Anri’s election campaign, and the pair is accused of offering local politicians and others money to help secure a seat in the upper house.
Kawai, 57, and his wife, 46, have both step down from Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but reportedly plan to keep their seats in parliament.
They have reportedly rejected the allegations, which include claims the former minister distributed a total of 24 million yen ($225,000) yen to 91 people to help secure his wife’s seat, while the couple handed out 1.7 million yen to five campaigners.
Source___Channel TV
Nigeria’s COVID-19 Escalation Worsens As NCDC Records 587 New Cases in a day
Nigeria on yesterday confirmed 587 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the nation’s toll of infections towards the 18,000 mark.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in a tweet stated that the country has now confirmed at least 17,735 cases of the novel coronavirus with 469 deaths and 5,967 recovered patients.
Nigeria is currently in the second phase of easing its lockdown restrictions, with worship centres expected to restart in certain states.
Source___Channels TV
Pakistani army accuses Indian troops of at least four civilians in Karma Region
Not less than four civilians have been killed by Indian shelling inside Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Pakistan’s military and local officials said.
Three people were killed in the Nakyal region, while a fourth person died after a shell hit her home in the Baghsar area, the military said in a statement released late on Wednesday. “Indian Army troops initiated unprovoked [ceasefire violations] in Nakyal and Bagsar Sectors along LoC targeting civ[ilian] population,” Pakistan’s military press wing said in a brief statement on Twitter.
Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over the mountainous territory of Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of, divided by the LoC.
This year, at least 12 people have been killed and more than 102 wounded in Pakistan-administered Kashmir from Indian firing across the LoC, according to Pakistani government data.
Source___Aljazeera
US policeman faces murder charge for recently killing a black man
A police officer who damningly shot a running black man in the back last week in Atlanta, Georgia, will be charged with murder and assault, officials say.
Garrett Rolfe, who has previously been fired, faces 11 charges related to Rayshard Brooks’ death. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
The other officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, will testify as a prosecution witness in the case, officials said.
The case comes amid US protests over police killings of black Americans.
Lawmakers in Washington are currently debating new police reform laws.
Officials said this was the ninth time that an Atlanta police officer had been prosecuted for murder.
Source___BBC
UK’s Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn dies aged 103
Dame Vera Lynn, the Forces’ Sweetheart whose songs assisted a raise morale in World War Two, has died aged 103.
The singer was popularly known for performing hits such as We’ll Meet Again to troops on the front line in countries including India and Egypt.
Her family said they were “deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers”.
In a statement, they make known she died on Thursday morning surrounded by her close relatives.
Information on a memorial will be announced at a later date.
Dame Vera, had sold more than a million records by the age of 22, was also remembered for singing The White Cliffs Of Dover, There’ll Always Be An England, I’ll Be Seeing You, Wishing and If Only I Had Wings.
Her wartime classic We’ll Meet Again was referenced by the Queen in April during a speech to Britons who were separated from families and friends during the coronavirus lockdown.
The late singer’s daughter, Virginia Lewis-Jones, said she was proud of the difference her mother made through her charity work.
She said the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity, which her mother put forward to help young children with cerebral palsy, “always held a very special place in her heart”.
Credit___BBC
Gambia is ranked 12th most peaceful country in Africa – Report confirms
The resent Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness, has named The Gambia as the 12th most peaceful country in sub-Saharan Africa and 60th in the world.
Build by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. The writers say the report presents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to-date on trends in peace, its economic value, and how to develop peaceful societies.
“The GPI covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace across three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation,” it stated.
The reported rated Ghana(3rd)), Sierra Leone (5th), and Senegal (6th) as being more peaceful than The Gambia but rated us above Rwanda (14th), Guinea (16th), Guinea-Bissau (21st), Mauritania (27th), Mali (39th) and Nigeria (40th).
*It named Iceland, New Zealand and Portugal as the most peaceful countries with Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan as the least peaceful.
The report which is the 14th since IEP started compiling the global peace index, noted that economic problems have left The Gambia vulnerable to further deteriorations in peacefulness.*
“With a youth unemployment rate of over 40 per cent, public dissatisfaction and migration have been on the rise. In addition, the country has recorded a rise in police brutality, particularly in clashes with anti-government protesters. However, the opening of the Farafenni bridge over the Gambia River in early 2019, reconnecting the Casamance region in Senegal with the rest of the territory, has eased tensions in the region and led to a de facto truce between the Senegal army and separatist groups. Senegal’s level of internal organised conflict has, therefore, improved and The Gambia has had improvements in political instability.”
Source___Standard Newspaper
Gambia Cabinet wants president to select chiefs
The mandate to choose district headsmen, seyfolu, should be in the hands of the president, and not through elections which will bring “disunity and division” in the country, President Barrow’s Cabinet told CRC.
Referencing its stand on the draft constitution in a document seen by The Standard, cabinet said “tradition dictates” that seyfolu be appointed by the president on a non-partisan basis”.
But the Constitutional Review Commission has said in the draft that Seyfolu should be elected by universal adult suffrage of all registered voters in the district, on a non-partisan basis.
“Subjecting the office of seyfo to election has the real potential to bring disunity and division among communities simply because campaigns will be conducted on a partisan basis (not necessarily on party lines),” the cabinet paper argued.
It added that seyfolu play an important role in their communities which Section 120 of the draft recognises.
“To therefore subject them to elections with different contestants will most likely polarise their communities and make it extremely difficult for any eventual winner to carry out their responsibility of maintaining social stability and cohesion,” it said.
Fortifying their position, the cabinet afirm that seyfolu also carry out a judicial function and if elected their impartiality and objectivity becomes precarious by virtue of their partisanship.
“The government is therefore of the considered view that Seyfolu should be appointed by the president on a non-partisan basis.”
Source___Standard Newspaper
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