By Christian Conteh
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Women In Liberation and Leadership (WILL) has said that her organisation will keep advocating for the implementation of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) Report recommendations especially those that involve sexual and gender-based violence.
Fatou Baldeh MBE was speaking to The Fatu Network in an exclusive interview following the release of the TRRC Report to the public.
“As someone who has been working directly with victims this is quite encouraging because for us it shows government commitment, which we are very encouraged by,” she said.
Fatou further noted that often issues of sexual and gender-based violence as serious as they are, are not given the much-needed importance when compared to other crimes.
“Our fear was that more attention would be placed on crimes like murder and enforced disappearance than sexual gender-based violence. So that’s why we have been working tirelessly these few years to make sure that victims of sexual gender-based violence are heard from and their stories inform the decision-making process,” Fatou said.
Adding that her institution is very pleased that the names of victims who came forward were mentioned and criminal liability attached to certain individuals.
When asked about whether her organisation will be monitoring the implementation phase of the TRRC process she replied,
“absolutely, we shall be following the process through, this is another milestone, there are more things to be done. As an organisation we shall continue to popularise the TRRC Report and advocate for implementation of the recommendations around sexual and gender-based violence,” she noted.
WILL is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) aiming to transform and protect the lives and rights of Gambian women and girls in The Gambia.
