Gambia: A State Media Belongs to The Nation And Should Give Accurate Reports [opinion]

Foroyaa published the following information after Gambia submitted its report on the Human rights situation in the Country:

“The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations. As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.”

We added that The Gambia’s Human Rights situation was reviewed on the 10 February, 2010 before a Troika of states comprising Cameroon, Jordan and Ukraine . The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Marie Saine-Firdaus, heading a 15 member delegation, presented the national report on the Gambia ’s Human Rights situation. 29 UN Member States and 26 Observer States took part in the discussion as the Working Group, following the presentation of the national report.”

Foroyaa has started publishing, in series, the whole report of the government of The Gambia, the compilation prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as well as the advance questions and recommendations from the UN Member countries i.e. Denmark , Hungary , Latvia , Sweden , U.K, Argentina , Czech Republic , Germany , Norway and Netherlands . We are doing exactly as promised. Now let us find our what the state Newspaper “The Gambia Info” had to say about the review.

In a recent edition The Gambia Info indicated that the Gambia Human Rights Situation Report has been adopted. It considered this to be a major achievement which reflects a “dynamic and excellent leadership.” According to the paper “the achievement came hard on the heels of the numerous falsified and misguided reports by some so-called Human Rights groups about the Country’s Human Rights situation.”

According to the Newspaper: “The Gambia’s report was reviewed on February 10, 2010 in a well attended forum and with the assistance of the Troika of Ukraine, Cameron and Jordan assigned to the Gambia as liaison. The actual adoption took place on February 122010 without objection” The paper further went on to add that after an interactive dialogue “member states of the United Nations commended the Gambia human rights promotion and protection efforts, and expressed satisfaction over the clarification given to views by some states which were to a large extent misguided”

It is very significant for the Gambia people to take note of the importance of allowing the state media to publish divergent views. In actual fact, after the Report was presented 55 delegations made statements. The delegations made recommendations for the improvement of areas they were not satisfied with contrary to the impression being given by “The Gambia Info.” In fact, 30 recommendations were made. Foroyaa will publish all the comments and recommendations so that our readers could have a balanced perspective of what actually happened in Geneva. We wish to take this opportunity to remind those in charge of the state Media what is stated in section 208 of the constitution which reads:

“All state owned newspapers, journals, radio and television shall afford fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinion.”

-February 24, 2010 by editor of Foroyaa

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Source: www.foroyaa.gm/modules/news/article.php (accessed on 26.02.10)