UN Watch intern Shoshana Aufzien took the floor of the U.N. Human Rights Council to stand solidarity with Gambian women and girls, political dissidents, and victims of torture.
Full Speech:
Mr. President, United Nations Watch thanks the Working Group for its report. We remain gravely concerned by The Gambia’s failure to implement critical recommendations from its previous Universal Periodic Review.
Nowhere is this neglect more evident or devastating than in the ongoing assault on the rights of women and girls. That is why we were proud to host renowned Gambian activist Fatou Baldeh at last year’s Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy to receive our International Women’s Rights Award. Ms. Baldeh described how extremist factions backed by National Assembly members attempted to use religion as a pretext for repealing the national ban on female genital mutilation.
The stakeholder summary underscores the pairing of legislative reforms criminalizing FGM with grassroots awareness campaigns. We hope to see rigorous enforcement and increased investment in prevention initiatives.
In The Gambia’s heartlands the promise of a health facility within a three kilometer radius remains aspirational. Between 2020 and 2021, only a handful of clinics were refurbished or constructed leaving rural populations without obstetric services.
Similarly, measures to overhaul the justice system ring hollow in the face of dangerously overcrowded prisons where inmates languish in squalor. While the report notes minor renovations only the construction of new humane detention facilities can attenuate these concerns.
Let us be clear: Adequate healthcare and sanitation are inalienable rights not privileges to be dispensed at the state’s discretion. The Special Tribunal once a beacon of hope for accountability lies crippled by a staggering $60 million deficit.
The Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission accepted 263 recommendations. Yet, implementation remains glacial.
We are alarmed by the use of draconian statutes to suppress dissent. These laws are an affront to the democratic principles The Gambia purports to uphold. We call upon The Gambia to ratify the Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and fully resource its national Human Rights Commission.
United Nations Watch stands in solidarity with Gambian women and girls, political dissidents, and victims of torture. The international community must deploy every tool at its disposal to ensure full compliance with international law.
Thank you.
