Press release
Government officials, civil society and the media practitioners will converge on Friday to finally review and validate the Gambia Press Union’s legal position paper on media law reforms.
The day-long validation, to be held at Senegambia Hotel, is organised by the Gambia Press Union (GPU) and Media Foundation for West African (MFWA) with the financial support of International Media Support.
The GPU and MFWA have hired the services of a constitutional lawyer in the person of Hawa Sisay-Sabally to draft a legal position paper on freedom of expression and press freedom.
Earlier this month, two consultative meetings were held with the civil society, and the media to gather more inputs and to raise awareness and draw consensus on the paper.
The revised document, based on the comments and suggestions from the two forums, is now set for validation on 2 March 2018.
After the forum, the validated document will be submitted to the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Justice for consideration in the ongoing media law reforms process while a separate document will be submitted to the constitutional review commission
The development of the legal position paper is in reaction to the government’s plan to set up a constitutional review commission to develop a new constitution for The Gambia.
For the GPU and partners, the legal position paper is a proactive measure to ensure that the new constitution has progressive laws on freedom of expression and press freedom.
