By: Lamin B. Darboe
The Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare has said that her Ministry is with the believed that “Disability is not synonymous to inability”.
Minister Fatou Kinteh made this remark while addressing participants during the one-day “National Stakeholders forum on Disability Rights Bill” held on Tuesday at Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.
After series of consultations with various Disable People’s Organization (DPOs) in The Gambia, ARTICLE 19 and Gambia Federation of Disable (GFD) agreed to organize a day-long National Stakeholder’s forum on the Disability Rights Bill.
In fact, Minister Kinteh explained, no one is perfect thus every person has one or another form of disability; it all depends on how one perceive our disability and on society’s definition of disability.
Minister Fatou Kinteh revealed that before participants that her ministry will create disability desk department that will take care of the concerns of people with disability through-out the country.
Madam Kinteh on behalf of her Ministry commended EU, IHRDA, GFD and ARTICLE 19 for having disable people’s concern adding that the forum was not so much about enjoyment of specific rights, rather, it was about ensuring the equal effective enjoyment of all human rights without discrimination by people with disabilities.
According to Minister Kinteh, the process o ensuring that people with disabilities enjoy their human rights has been unusually slow for long time in The Gambia.
“The Gambia also a signatory to United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (UNCRPD), this Convention has set-up the rights of person with Disabilities (PWDs) and obligations of the Government towards citizens with disabilities,” Minister Kinteh explained.
The adoption of this Bill, according to Minister Kinteh will ensure the domestication of the Convention to support Persons with Disabilities thus create favorable conditions for their inclusion in the society.
The day-long forum witnessed the presentations of various thematic and working groups’ discussions with participants, human rights experts, ministers, government agencies and partners.
