By Binta Jaiteh
The National Human Right Commission has called on political leaders to discourage the presence of children in their political rallies as it published its key findings and recommendations report.
Emmanuel Joof, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission confirmed “There were students in school uniforms or party T-shirts at the rallies of some of the political parties and/or presidential candidates.”
“It legitimizes the process of democracy of elected officials were free, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory matter therefore IEC which is the independent body that is mandated to organize and manage elections in the country but since election is a human right matter NHRC as an independent state institution is mandated to promote and protect human rights,” he said.
According to him, IEC has a lot of works to do yet it has a modest human resource capacity in moving forward they needed to acquire gender expertise to help in other issues during implementation. One of their observations during the elections is the absence of sign language interpreters and IEC information sensitive to the needs of persons with disabilities (Braille), he disclosed.
He went on that non-Adherence to Covid-19 guidelines and polling centres are not friendly adding that presence of children in the campaigns and nomination is also a matter.
“One of the reasons thatwere highlighted by the people is potential cause for controversy which the results were communicated. Meanwhile is important for the IEC to explain so that people will not speculate.
“Success stories are priority registration and voting for persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant and nursing mothers and the sick, provision of security to all the presidential aspirants and also coverage of the campaigns of all the candidates by national TV (GRTS). However, the presence of many observers including high profile personalities and provision of security to all presidential aspirants,” he added.
The Commission recommended enhancing access to immigration services for citizens to acquire their required national documents such as issuance of birth certificates automatically upon birth at all health facilities. To also facilitate the process of neutralization for those who meet the requirement and want to naturalize, he added
However, the main briefing was centered on three main objectives: to inform the public about the key findings and recommendation by the commission in regards to the 2021 presidential elections monitoring reports, the second is to inform the public about the work of the commission and plan program for the year 2022.
