Africa-Press – Gambia. A one-day consultative meeting bringing together persons with disabilities from various organizations across The Gambia was held on Monday, 4th August 2025.
The primary objectives of the consultative engagement were to identify the needs of persons with disabilities and to ensure that the challenges they faced in society were not left unaddressed.
The Network Against Gender-Based Violence (NGBV), in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), hosted the meeting.
Speaking at the event held at the Metzy Hotel in Senegambia, Fallou Sowe, Country Coordinator of the Network Against Gender-Based Violence, emphasized that access to information and education remained limited for persons with disabilities. He highlighted the critical role of information in enabling people, especially persons with disabilities, to access necessary services.
“Access to information and education is limited to persons with disabilities, and this makes them increasingly risky and vulnerable to issues, especially gender-based violence,” he stated.
Sowe further underscored the urgent need to ensure that perpetrators who violate the rights of persons with disabilities in cases of gender-based violence face the full penalties of the law.
Principal Magistrate Muhammed Krubally, who also serves as Chairperson of The Gambia Organization for the Disabled, echoed similar concerns. Mr. Krubally referenced the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, emphasizing the need for full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in all sectors.
“This convergence is indeed in line with some of our principles as enshrined in Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and by extension, Section 4 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2021, some of which identify the full and effective participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities in all sectors,” he said.
Krubally also noted the harmful impact of gender-based violence directed particularly at women and children, stressing that persons with disabilities were regular victims who face various forms of violence, including physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse.
Awa Boye, an executive member of The Gambia Albinos Association and a participant at the one-day event, praised the importance of the meeting but raised concerns over disparities in access to education for persons with disabilities.
“Sometimes we find it difficult to access these structures (schools), most especially the disabled who use wheelchairs. We really struggle to sometimes get to these environments,” she said.
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