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toubab1020
12242 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Mar 2021 : 16:37:59
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RELATED :https://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=177
FROM 2006
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SNIPPET from the 18th of March 2021 posting:
"Halifa Sallah said: “It has been impossible to implement because the wives of the VIPs, religious leaders, people you classified to be very much respected and even those who crafted the law have been bleaching their skin. If ambassadors or wives of other presidents who bleach came into the country, would you order for their arrest or would you say they have diplomatic immunity? Do you anticipate that all those people will be arrested and taken to court? Let us be honest, if you are talking about religion you have to be honest and answer that question.”
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https://standard.gm/justice-minister-warns-enforcing-anti-skin-bleaching-law-will-cause-chaos0/
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By Omar Bah on March 18, 2021
The Minister of Justice has told lawmakers that prosecuting offenders of skin bleaching will cause chaos in the country.
Dawda Jallow was tabling the skin bleaching (prohibition) (repeal) Bill, 2020 that seeks to make skin bleaching legal in The Gambia. The bill is under decree number 65, 1995 of the Criminal Law and it came into force on the 1st of January 1996 during the AFPRC reign, when there was no parliament in place.
“I wonder if the bill was a normal bill whether it would have passed. It is not a creature of a bill of the National Assembly. I don’t know whether if it was a normal bill that goes through normal parliamentary scrutiny, it would have been in our statue books at the moment. Nonetheless, our constitution has adopted some of these decrees as part of the laws of The Gambia and we are here trying to repeal it,” Minister Jallow said.
He continued: “The non practicality of implementing the legislation is not entirely an inability on the side of the state and to be honest with you, if you want to implement the law the chaos it might create in society is something that needs to be thought about and you cannot close your eyes to that. If you ask me for example as a prosecutor, my office would prosecute different kinds of offences but how would you expect my staff to prove before the court an offence of skin bleaching?”
The minister further explained the main exhibit will be the body of the accused person “and I don’t know of any offence where we subject the body of the accused as exhibit because even assaults that cause bodily injuries go to a hospital for a medical report which will be sufficient. But for skin bleaching, I am not sure whether our hospitals are ready to receive them to analyse their bodies to produce a medical report on whether somebody is bleaching or not. So the only other way is to put the accused into the witness box and tell the court to look at her if she is bleaching.
“If you are technically telling us it is a law that came in to being without any parliamentary oversight whatsoever and now you are telling us to arrest people and prosecute them for something, we are telling you it is practically impossible. It is difficult. It is grossly discriminatory because it involves mainly women and the other issue is that we would not be able to have enough prisons to handle the number of accused persons. I cannot come here and dictate you on what to do but I know the law is just existing for the sake of existing,” Minister Jallow argued.
The NAM for Serekunda West, Madi Ceesay said he is against the repealing of the bill while Sandu lawmaker Muhammed Mahanera said he would never support such a law.
He argued: “I thank the Honourable members who have voted against it. Honourable Speaker, there is a purpose of the human being to live on the earth. This is not my word, it’s a word from our creator. The act of bleaching we all know has so many implications. One, either you’re trying to establish a relationship or you’re trying to promote prostitution.”
The NAM for Serekunda, Halifa Sallah said: “It has been impossible to implement because the wives of the VIPs, religious leaders, people you classified to be very much respected and even those who crafted the law have been bleaching their skin. If ambassadors or wives of other presidents who bleach came into the country, would you order for their arrest or would you say they have diplomatic immunity? Do you anticipate that all those people will be arrested and taken to court? Let us be honest, if you are talking about religion you have to be honest and answer that question.”
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 19 Mar 2021 16:50:29 |
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toubab1020
12242 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2021 : 13:14:00
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https://standard.gm/govt-suffers-another-setback-in-decriminalising-skin-bleaching0/
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A personal Observation.
Bearing in mind the very many pressing problems that the Gambian government is having to tackle at this point in time,it appeares to be quite odd to promote the use of what appears to me to be a harmfull treatment of the human skin ,sold by some international cosmetic companies to mainley women.
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By Tabora Bojang on March 23, 2021
Government’s attempt to decriminalise skin bleaching suffered another major setback after the National Assembly rejected a motion for its consideration yesterday.
The Bill was rejected at its second reading in 2020 but was committed to the National Assembly committee on health for consideration.
The committee lay its report and recommendations to the plenary last week where it was adopted by members, and set for consideration.
However, when the motion was put to a vote, 23 members voted against its consideration while 10 others voted to support the motion. It now goes to the third reading stage scheduled for March 29.
According to the government proposal on the repeal, any attempt to enforce the skin bleaching (prohibition) act could amount to discrimination on the basis of gender which could lead to social stigmatisation and strive.
It further argued the practice of skin bleaching is a matter of choice, and can never be effectively enforced, hence a law that cannot be implemented should have no place in the statute books.
“This act has been in place since 2009 and it has never been implemented except some few unsuccessful attempts which were merely public shows.”
Speaking to The Standard following the rejection, NAM for Latrikunda Sabiji Saikou Marong who voted in support of the repeal, described the rejection as “unfortunate.”
He said what his fellow lawmakers should concern themselves with is “to engage in sensitising their people about the dangers involved in the practice instead of imposing laws” on women that are deemed “discriminatory” with the potential to put them behind bars.
“We cannot dictate women how to take care of their skin. They should be in the position to determine that for themselves; we are all talking about women empowerment and this is part and parcel of women’s rights.
“You don’t make laws to impress sections of the society. As lawmakers, we did not come here to only stand for Muslim factions from our constituencies but everybody, regardless of their religious background. I am a Muslim but I have a duty to make sure I fight for what is right for everybody,” Marong said in response to his fellows who said skin-bleaching is un-Islamic.
Member for Foni Kansala, Musa Amul Nyassi said: “I have made my position very clear that I am not going to be a party to legalise skin bleaching because the simple reason is that even though the Act is not enforced, it has enabled our school authorities to take control of our young girls.
“All schools have come up with a regulation which bars our girls from the practice of bleaching and that suffice to say, it is a good law even where the state is not enforcing it.
The fact that the law exists in itself is a deterrent and the other reason is that, Islam is against the idea of bleaching. So these are ample evidence for me not to give my weight to the repeal of the bill, aside from the huge health risks,” the APRC lawmaker stated.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Skin bleaching bill
