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Momodou
Denmark
11640 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 22:41:16
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WOMEN’S BILL 2010 PASSED
By Amie Sillah
14-04-10
The Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs Madam Isatou Njie Saidy presented the Women’s Bill 2010 to the National Assembly.
She dilated on all the aspects of the Bill. She said the Bill has incorporated some aspects of the CEDAW, Maputo Protocol and the 1997 Constitution.
Vice President Njie Saidy explained that the Bill spelt outGender Equality, Equity and Women’s Empowerment in all aspects of life.
“The Women’s Bill went through a rigorous process of consultation, Review, Dialogue with stakeholders before it was finally brought to the National Assembly for ratification”, said the Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs.
Madam Njie Saidy said the Bill is divided into 12 parts with 78 Sections.
She listed the parts as follows:
“Part one deals with Interpretation;
Part two Specific Rights for Women in the 1997 Constitution;
Part three deals with Government Commitment;
Part four deals with Temporary Special Measures;
Part five Prohibits Discrimination in Employment, Family Responsibilities and Work;
Part six deals with Education and Training of Women and Girls;
Part seven deals with Health and Reproductive Rights of Women;
Part eight deals with the plight of Rural Women e.g. land, credit etc for empowerment;
Part nine deals with the sanctity of Marriage and FAMILY Life e.g. Monogamy, Polygamy, Inheritance etc;
Part ten deals with Additional Rights e.g Participation in Peace Processes, Food Security, Sustainable Development, Positive Cultural Participation, Rights for Elderly Women, Women with Disability, Women in Distress etc;
Part eleven deals with Women and Institutional Mechanism e.g. strengthening the Bureau and Council through Capacity Building, Providing Resources and Identifying Sources of Funding, Procedures and Practices for Proper Administration and
Part twelve deals with Miscellaneous Procedures, Periodic Reviews, and Penalty for Offences etc.
The Vice President explained that the whole of society were involved in the process with technical and financial support from the AU Secretariat.
After the Vice President moved the motion it was seconded by the National Assembly Member for Jeshwang, Hon. Haddy Nyang Jagne.
She cited among other things the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, she said, states that all human beings are equal. She also referred to Section 28 of the 1997 Constitution which states that women and men have equal rights in the Political, Economic, Social and Cultural spheres of life.
She finally urged her colleagues to support the Bill.
Other National Assembly Members who spoke in support of the Bill included the members for Upper Saloum, Central Baddibu, Lower Nuimi, Niamina East, Kombo East, Banjul South, Kombo North, Upper Fulladu West, Wuli East, Kiang Central, Foni Bintang, Foni Jarrol, Kiang West, Foni Kansala, Basse, Tumana, Banjul Central and Nominated Members Tina Faal, Seedy Njie and Sekouna Sanneh.
There were twenty interventions, excluding the one who seconded the motion, and eighteen of whom were men.
The Speaker said the Bill is for the family and not only for women. She said the Bill was adopted before it was put to the National Assembly Members.
The members raised their concern regarding the need for thorough sensitization to avoid misinterpretation.
The Speaker urged members to continue the sensitization of their constituencies.
She said “The Bill has come to create a balance and to create a level playing field.”
The Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs was called upon by the Speaker to respond to the concerns raised by Members and to wind up the debate.
Responding to the concerns raised by NAMs, the Vice President clarified that the Bill is out to empower both the rural and urban women who have their different needs. She congratulated both sides of the house (National Assembly) for their support for women’s issues. She said “We are all in the same national boat which we should not allow to sink… We need a kind of consensus.”
Vice President Njie Saidy said she believes that every law has to be backed by sensitization, consultation especially laws dealing with gender relationships.
She informed the National Assembly that some controversial aspects of the Bill such as ‘Violence Against Women’ has to be taken out to be dealt with in a separate Bill in order not to delay the passing of the Women’s Bill. She advocates for legal literacy to alleviate fear adding that we all have a duty and responsibility.
The Vice President disclosed that her ministry is on the verge of formulating a Gender Policy 2010-2020 which, she said, will also go through a rigorous process of consultation with stakeholders.
She concluded that the Bill is not static and is bound to change from time to time and that it advocates for partnership between men and women.
Source: Foroyaa Online
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11640 Posts |
Posted - 16 Apr 2010 : 21:48:12
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A Women's Bill is Born
By Ebrima Bah
The Vice President of the Gambia and Minister for Women’s Affairs has finally surmounted any huddles to propel the National Assembly to consider legislating separately a bill which covers a wide range of issues relating to the rights of women and girls as human rights matters following the passage of the National Women’s Bill by this august body on Tuesday 13th April, 2010.
It is unimaginable that a legislature that would not entertain the idea of enacting the Women’s Bill and managed to throw all words relating to it into the dustbin of history over the years would now pass the Women Bill when over 20 parliamentarians successively aligned their support and gave full blessings during the debate.
The parliamentarians unlike in their historic roars over the issue on the original text of the women’s bill in the National Assembly when they rejected the bill in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, no parliamentarian has this time raised an iota of controversy that could waste anytime to passed the bill. " A record," echoed by Babanding K. K. Daffeh, National Assembly Member for Kiang Central during the debate on the motion,.
The act seeks to implement the legal provisions of the National Policy for the Advancement of Gambian Women and Girls and to incorporate and enforce certain aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Rights of Women in Africa.
The ministry of Women’s Affairs with all its partners collected the garbage of the past debates from the National Assembly and learned from their mistakes by consulting Religious Leaders (Supreme Islamic Council and the Christian Council), National Women’s Council and women leaders across the country, National Assembly Members, Legal Practitioners to ensure that their concerns were taken on board while adhering to the provisions of the Protocol.
Isatou Njie Saidy, Vice President and Minister for Women’s Affairs reiterated during the debate on the motion at the National Assembly that she did not believe in a law that was not subjected to consultations, because such laws would not be implemented should they be passed.
Moving the motion on the bill earlier, she described the bill as relevant and timely, considering the fact that from the time immemorial some Gambian Women and girls have been victims of circumstances and had suffered innumerable forms of marginalization and abuse in society. "These unpleasant situations in which some women and girls are subjected to often disrupt their daily lives and equal opportunities to progress, such as lack of shelter, poor clothing and malnutrition among others thereby exacerbating poverty", she said.
Some cases in point the Minister said are domestic violence, which include physical, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts, or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms of women and girls and any distinction, exclusion or restriction or any differential treatment based on sex. "The socio-economic upliftment of women therefore has negatively and significantly been affected for more than a century", she said.
The birth of the bill therefore is "important to enhance better understanding of why the Bill and make it clear that what happened in the past between men and women in their relationships is no longer tenable", the Vice President said. She further said that it is rather a symbiotic relationship with respect for each others human dignity and not just the usual providers and beneficiary relationships. "It is a relationship that recognizes each others roles as actors and beneficiaries in development with government providing strong leadership and coordination for better results", Njie-Saidy said.
The Vice President and the Minister for Women Affairs told the assembly that the enactment of the National Women’s Bill will formally establish a legal framework and related institutions in pursuance of promoting equality for women in society and removing all forms of discrimination against women and girls.
Source: Dailynews |
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