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“Human Rights in The Gambia” by Madi Jobarteh
Thursday 30 March 2023, 20:00 - 22:00
Madi Jobarteh is a human rights defender from the Gambia. The Gambia is a small country surrounded by Senegal in West Africa, with a population of 2.5 million people. After it became independent from Great Britain in 1965, The Gambia became a republic in 1970 and has since had three presidents. The current president is Adama Barrow.
For over 20 years, mr. Jobarteh worked on promoting democracy and human rights in The Gambia. He is one of the foremost voices in the country advocating for public sector transparency and accountability, and a strong democracy and good governance advocate who has taken a public stand on all issues of human rights across the country. He is also a peace advocate and dedicated to an inclusive and equal society by advocating for the rights of women and girls. He carries out this work peacefully, by working together with various civil society organisations in The Gambia, through campaigns, peaceful gatherings, and sharing information on online and press platforms.
For his work, Madi Jobarteh has been under scrutiny from the Gambian government; in 2016, during turmoil surrounding Barrow’s presidential election, he stayed in the Netherlands under the Shelter City initiative for 1.5 years and in June 2020 he was charged for criticising the government, though charges were later dropped. In May 2021, Madi was directly mentioned by Pres. Barrow in a national address accusing him of wanting to burn down the country, and urged journalists not to give Madi platform and citizens to stay away from him. A month later the Minister of Lands threatened to take Madi to court unless Madi apologizes and withdraws his comments and articles online accusing the Minister of Minister, Mr. Jobarteh is now back in Groningen as a guest of the Sub-Saharan Africa Programme and the University College Groningen.
This lecture is a collaboration between SIB-Groningen and the Human Mobility & Migration (HuMM) Lab at the University of Groningen. HuMM Lab is an interdisciplinary group of researchers exploring the impact of movement on communities and working to find sustainable solutions to the challenges that diverse societies face. We collaborate with international partners to develop research, teaching, and outreach activities, with a focus on the dissonances between governance and lived experiences that can undermine democratic institutions and threaten societal cohesion. HuMM Lab’s goal is to identify possibilities for repair: ways to address gaps related to human mobility and migration.
During this event, Madi Jobarteh will introduce the human rights situation in The Gambia during a brief talk followed by a brief Q&A. Afterwards, he will join a friendly discussion while sharing a drink with the participants on the importance of human rights and his personal work. Though the event is free and open to everyone, there is a limited capacity so please sign up through this link.