By Musa Saho
The Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Unit of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with support from Global Affairs Canada, through its Technical Assistance Partnership – Expert Deployment Mechanism implemented by Alinea International, recently organised at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre a four-day training and consultation workshop on responding to, investigating, and prosecuting Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) crimes.
The Chairperson of the SGDV Unit, Ms. Ella Dougan, said that the training was the first amongst series of trainings intended to build the capacity of The Gambia’s criminal justice system to investigate and prosecute crimes of SGBV. She expressed hope that at the end of the training, participants would be left with a deeper understanding of SGBV, would share best practices, identify existing challenges and begin discussing potential solutions that would ensure that victims’ needs, concerns and safety are centered in the criminal processes.
She revealed that the future trainings and workshops would build on this work and would focus on areas including: trauma-informed practices, potential policy or legislative changes and advanced investigative and prosecutorial skills.
“All these efforts are geared towards reducing the risk of SGBV for all persons of concern and ensuring all survivors of SGBV have adequate and timely access to quality services that meet their needs,’’ Ms Doucan concluded.
The workshop was attended by key officials from the Ministry of Justice, including police, investigators, state counsel, as well as members of the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Welfare, the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP), and the National Agency for Legal Aid (NALA).
