BAJ Gambia joins international community in celebrating world biodiversity day

Amie Faye BAJ Gambia Director of Communications

Biodiversity Action Journalists Gambia well known as BAJ Gambia joins the international community in celebrating International Day for Biological Diversity (IDBD) or (World Biodiversity Day) 22 May, 2014

The IDBD is an annual event that seeks to increase the people’s understanding and awareness on key issues about biodiversity, with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) composed of 193 member- countries leading the event’s celebration throughout the world.

The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 of each year for celebrating International Day for Biological Diversity to commemorate the adoption of the text of the CBD on May 22, 1992.

Madina Sancha VISACA members promises to increase savings monthly

 

Madina Sancha VISACA AGM delegates

Village Savings and Credit Associations (VISACA’s) are user-owned, user-managed and user-financed microfinance institutions operating in The Gambia says Mr. Kawsu Conteh, Animator Central River Region (CRR) and Lower River Region (LRR) VISACA Apex.

Mr. Conteh was speaking at Madina Sancha VISACA annual general meeting, Kiang East in Lower River Region over the weekend.

According to him, the ownership of VISACA belongs to the village and the village as an entity adding that savings and deposits can sustain any VISACA in the country.

Mr. Conteh stated that VISACA Apex the umbrella body of VISACA’s in the country is pleased to be associated with the activities that Madina Sancha VISACA is doing that savings, deposits, giving fertilizer to farmers on loans amongst other activities.

He further commended the management of Madina Sancha VISACA for holding the annual general meeting adding that holding an annual general meeting is very important it’s based on the credibility of every organisation; while urging the management committee and the general membership to continue guiding the constitution and regulations that governs VISACA’s in the country.

People with albinism: Pillay urges more protection after barbaric killing in Tanzania

GENEVA (15 May 2014) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called Thursday for increased protection for people with albinism, after the barbaric murder of a 40-year-old woman with albinism in north-western Tanzania on 12 May.

“This killing and the terrible circumstances surrounding it sadly demonstrate that the human rights situation of people with albinism in Tanzania and other countries, remains dire,” Pillay said.

According to police reports, Munghu Lugata was brutally murdered Monday night at her home in Mwachalala, a village in Simiyu region, north-western Tanzania. Her attackers chopped off her left leg above the knee, two of her fingers and the upper part of her left thumb, apparently while she was still alive.

These attacks, which are often motivated by the use of body parts for ritual purposes, have claimed the lives of at least 73 people with albinism in Tanzania since 2000. Ms Lugata’s murder is the first reported killing of someone with albinism in Tanzania in 2014.

Pillay welcomed the rapid response of the police, who arrested two local witchdoctors on 13 May.

GIs are sign used on goods that have a specific quality linked to its geographical origin- Peter REDD

From left: Peter, Njie and Kalu

Mr. Peter Damary from REDD stated that OLP have a special ‘typical’ quality that is linked to its ‘origin’ (the terroir0 saying that this link can be through: natural factor, and/ or human factors (special know-how, history).

Peter Damary was given a presentation on: What is an Origin Linked Product (OLP) and What is a Geographical Indication (GI), How do we define the link to the ‘Terroir’, in Akosombo, Ghana for this third Regional Training Course on Identification and Inventory of Origin Linked Quality Products and Geographical Indications from the 12^th to 16^th May, 2014.

According to him, GI in simple terms, it is legally recognized and protected name of an Origin Linked Product. Protected as an Intellectual Property (IP), he said may take various forms, such as collective or certification marks. 

Usually protects names with an existing ‘reputation’, said Peter.

African region has a great potential of origin linked quality products

Group pic after the opening ceremony

Mr. Vincent Fautrel, Senior Programme Coordinator Agricultural Trade and Value Chain Development Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (ACP-EU) says the African region has a great potential of origin linked quality products: Coffee from Guinea, Atieke from Côte d’Ivoire, and Pineapple from Benin, just to mention a few.

CTA: “our interest in Origin Linked Quality Products (OLQP) and Geographical Identifications (GIs) started in the mid 2000 in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) discussions but also in the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. We commissioned a few papers to highlight the key issues for the ACP countries and organized in 2008 the first ACP-EU technical workshop in Montpellier France together with CIRAD, INRA and AFD."

Mr. Fautrel was speaking at the official opening ceremony of a training workshop on Identification and Inventory of Origin Linked Quality Products Capacity strengthening programme for Central and West African countries in Akossombo, Ghana, scheduled to take place from 12^th -16th May 2014.

The training was the third in a series, as the first two trainings were organised for the French-speaking countries in 2013 in Benin and Burkina Faso. 

Two Gambian Journalists off to Ghana

Njie and Faye in Ghana

Mamadou Edrisa Njie, Editorial Assiatant and Newsroom Coordinator and Ms Amie Faye Senior Staff Reporter at The Gambia News and Report weekly magazine, Sunday left Banjul International Airport to attend a weeklong training workshop on Identification and Inventory of Origin Linked Quality Products Capacity strengthening programme for Central and West African countries in Akossombo, Ghana, scheduled to take place from 12 to 17 May 2014.

The training was the third in a series, as the first two trainings were organised for the French-speaking countries in 2013 in Benin and Burkina Faso.

The third training attracted participants from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

The workshop targeted farmer organisations, policy makers, local authorities, rural leaders, NGOs and other sectors of society.

International experts call for universal protection of freedom of expression

Today, international experts mandated by the UN, African Union, Organization of American States and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will jointly call for states to ensure that all people in society can realise their right to freedom of expression without discrimination. The Joint Declaration on the Universality of the Right to Freedom of Expression [available in FR, SP and RU] by the four special rapporteurs, officials appointed to investigate and report on free of expression issues, has been produced with the assistance of ARTICLE 19.
It reiterates the the universal nature of freedom of expression, reflected in international and regional general human rights standards and national constitutions and its recognition as a core human value in all major cultural, philosophical and religious traditions around the world. It highlights also the importance of pen debate about different cultures, values, beliefs and practices can have in promoting understanding and tolerance, and in combating hatred and social division.