Gambia: Gambia signs five UN treaties at General Assembly

21 Septembre 2017

BANJUL, Gambia, September 21 (Infosplusgabon) - President Adama Barrow of Gambia has signed five United Nations  treaties at a go, while attending the 72nd United Nations General Assembly underway in New York, United States, his office disclosed Thursday.

The signed treaties are: the Abolition of the Death Penalty as part of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Convention on The Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

"By signing the treaties, the new Gambia continues to promote democracy and show the commitment of the state to protect lives of political activists," the Gambian presidency said in a statement.

"This will remove fear and promote rule of law for citizens to express their civil and political rights. The signing is a commitment of member states of the United Nations to prohibit execution and totally abolish the death penalty."

The statement pointed out that Gambia is one of the countries with high migration rate but also receives immigrants from other African countries, thus the importance of protecting the dignity of all migrants. It agrees to protect the human rights of migrant workers and their families.

"Citizens have been subjected to forced disappearance. It is commendable for The Gambia to agree to prevent forced disappearance defined in international law not only at home but throughout the UN member states.

"Setting international rules for investor-state arbitration is strategic as the world is increasingly dependent on investment for development of communities. Consent to apply the sets of Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration will provide mechanism for recording such agreement and shall come into force as of 18 October this year. It intends to minimize criminal acts and economic exploitation," the statement added.

Meanwhile, the government said by signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, The Gambia intends to prevent mass destruction of human life and property to promote peaceful co-existence in the world.

The Gambia will now work to move from signing, to ratification and domestication of the signed treaties, to make them effective in the country.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AOB/GABON 2017

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