COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES REVIEW OF GAMBIA'S REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION

CRC
28th session
5 October 2001
Afternoon





The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its consideration of an initial report from Gambia on how that country was giving effect to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In a preliminary remark, a Committee Expert thanked the members of the delegation for their honest and frank responses to the questions raised by members of the Committee.

The Expert said that more efforts were needed to implement the provisions of the Convention, and although financial resources were lacking, Gambia’s children should benefit from bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Gambia will be issued by the Committee before the end of its three-week session on 12 October.

As one of the 191 States parties to the Convention, Gambia is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on its various activities, including legislative, judicial and administrative measures, intended to implement the provisions of the treaty. A five-member Gambian delegation was on hand during the two meetings to introduce the report and to answer questions raised by members of the Committee.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Monday, 8 October, it will start its consideration of the second periodic report of Paraguay.

Response of Gambia

In response to a number of questions raised by the Committee Experts, the Gambian delegation said that the Government was committed to the collection of disaggregated data which would enable it to establish the necessary policies towards child rights.

The number of birth registrations had increased during the last decade and the issuance of birth certificates had increased by 32 per cent, the delegation said. The birth certificates were essential for registration in schools, to have access to health facilities and to obtain national identity cards.

Asked about alleged discrimination against refugee children, the delegation said that a national committee chaired by the Vice President of Gambia had been closely monitoring the refugee situation in the country. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was conducting teaching programmes in refugee camps, the Government was taking care of those outside the camps. There was no discrimination against refugees's access to services provided in the fields of education, health and other basic needs.

The phenomenon of abandoned children was not as rampant as it was alluded to by some quarters, the delegation said; however, there was a phenomenon of dumping children in Gambia from neighbouring countries. The Gambian law stipulated that children under 7 years of age found abandoned were to be considered as Gambian.

Adopted children had the same status as biological children of the adoptive parents, the delegation said. While domestic adoption was done in an informal manner between relatives or known families, inter-country adoption was discouraged by the Government, except for reasons related to medical treatment.

The delegation said that consanguineous marriages were common in Gambia, particularly in the rural areas where that culture was deeply entrenched. Among educated persons such incidents were few. The Government discouraged that tradition which was proving difficult to eradicate.

Further, many street children were boys from neighbouring countries like Senegal, Guinea and Mali who come to the country under the guise of studying under Islamic tutors -- the marabouts. The majority of such children were Gambians. These street children were usually between the ages of 6 and 15 years. Due to pressure from their masters, some of them engaged in begging and stealing.

Gambia was a country where the concept of flogging children was intolerable, the delegation said. No one could accept the practice of corporal punishment as a corrective and disciplinary measure against children. In addition, the law prohibited the use of corporal punishment against children.

The Committee Experts continued raising questions under the third batch of subjects, which were basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities; and special protection measures.

Responding to the questions raised by Experts, the members of the Gambian delegation said that the Government had found that mobile schools were effective with street children, particularly those who had dropped out of regular schools.

Asked about cross border issues relating to children, the delegation said that the Government had not taken the initiative to settle the problem with neighbouring countries. A system of monitoring was, however, envisaged through consular and diplomatic relations concerning those children who left the country to go back to their countries of origin.

Formal education was associated with Western values in Gambia and for that reason some people were not willing to send their children to schools, the delegation said. It was not the education that was intended for the child's development that was questioned but the values attached with the Western education. Parents preferred to send their children to "madrasas" -- Koranic schools. Nevertheless, the situation had now evolved and many parents were sending their children to "modern" schools.

The distance of schools from home, particularly for girls, was one of the factors contributing to the dropout of children, the delegation said. Many parents were not willing to send their daughters to junior high schools in the urban areas fearing "foreign environments" which would harm their integrity. However, the Government had taken a series of measures to bring schools closer to homes.


Since the majority of the Gambian population was Muslim, it was not easy to embark on a discussion relating to the use of condoms in schools, the delegation said. Instead, sexual abstinence was advocated within the school environment. Within the family, the use of contraceptive methods was encouraged, as was birth spacing.

With a $ 15 million loan from the World Bank, the HIV/AIDS rapid response programme had been launched this year to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS among the population, including children, the delegation said. The only data available on the number of children that were orphaned by AIDS came from UNAIDS which said there were 9,600 AIDS orphans.

It seemed that Gambia was losing the battle against malaria which affected 47 per cent of the population, the delegation said. Although the fight against the disease continued with vigour, the rate of affected persons continued to increase each year. There had been a campaign, on several occasions, to clean places where mosquitos reproduced.


Preliminary Remark

Formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the initial report of Gambia will be issued by the Committee before the end of its three-week session on 12 October.

In a preliminary remark, a Committee Expert thanked the members of the delegation for their honest and frank responses to the questions raised by members of the Committee.

The Expert said that more efforts were needed to implement the provisions of the Convention, and although financial resources were lacking, Gambian children should benefit from bilateral and multilateral cooperation.




* *** *