By Landing Colley
The National Coordinator of Child Protection Alliance (CPA) has blamed government of the The Gambia for inadequate commitment and investment towards the welfare of the children in the country.
Speaking to the National Assembly select committee on health, women, children, disaster and humanitarian relief who were on a nationwide tour as part of their mandate, Mr Lamin Fatty said the country has laws that are not enforce and government still not invest enough to the welfare of children this being the case that children continue to be exposed to all forms of abuse and exploitation.
“The government has not been that much committed when it comes to the issue of investment on children. This year the Ministry of women, children and social welfare was allocated 0.4 percent from the national budget and with all the good laws that we have in this country, they are never translate to address the realities of children. This has created an environment where children are exposed to all forms of abuse,” Mr Fatty claimed.
According to him, the issue of child sex story is always reported and the state as the duty bearer must take the responsibility to enforce the law in order to safeguard the welfare of the children.
He said the government has not ratified the legal instrument for the purpose of signing document but to take the responsibility to be able to respect the fundamental rights of children. He added that CPA has created complementary role in raising public awareness through the establishment of child protection committees in the region that they intervene.
“We also have accountability role that is to hold state into account and when doing our accountability role is not within the confinement of the Gambia because this is where we will be looking at how do we make sure that Gambia national law in relation to regional is allied to that of international legal instrument as per ratification that they have made,” he said.
However, Mr. Fatty hopes that the health insurance scheme will help to improve the health care system and also the health care of the children.