Three journalists, Pa Modou Faal of the national television GRTS, Musa Sheriff of Gambia News & Report Magazine and Malick Mboob, Communication Officer of Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital were arrested last Friday by the Gambia security forces. Lamin Cham, the BBC stringer in the Gambia was equally arrested today by security forces.

The Gambia has now ratified Articles 5,6,7 and 14 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Article 5 of the Protocol deals with the elimination of harmful practices against women; Article 6 deals with marriage; Article 7 deals with divorce and property while Article 14 deals with abortion. All were ratified by The Gambia without reservations. The AU conventions on women and other UN protocols and conventions on women and the girl-child all call for the full ratification of these international instruments. This decision by the parliament strengthens Secretary of State Sheikh Tijan Hydara's point of stating that The Gambia has been and will continue to be an active, responsible and dependable member of the international order, when tabling the instruments for ratification before the National Assembly.

Reporters Without Borders has voiced alarm at the impunity with which the Gambian government has been able to illegally detain Madi Ceesay, the managing director of the biweekly newspaper The Independent, and Musa Saydikhan, its editor, for the past week. The press freedom organisation wrote to the British, French and US ambassadors in Banjul calling on them to "urgently intercede with authorities to obtain the release of these two journalists," adding that their detention was illegal under Gambian law as charges must be brought against a detainee within 72 hours.

Plainclothes Gambian security agents Tuesday sealed the offices of the twice-weekly newspaper The Independent and arrested staffers found on the premises, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Most of the staff members were released after brief questioning, but Editor Musa Saidykhan and General Manager Madi Ceesay remained in custody at the end of the day.

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) is a pan African human rights organization, based in Banjul, the Gambia, established to promote the effective use of African human rights treaties and law to protect rights in Africa. The Executive Director will provide strategic direction and professional leadership, sustaining and building on IHRDA’s reputation and unique contribution to the human rights movement in the continent, and developing a strong team of professional and motivated staff.

Almost one in five of child deaths worldwide are caused by pneumonia. A vaccine tested in the Gambia in a study led by the UK Medical Research Council has proven to be effective against pneumonia, thus reducing hospital admissions and increasing survival rates. The researchers recommend the wider introduction of the vaccine across Africa.

Almost one in five of child deaths worldwide are caused by pneumonia. A vaccine against the disease could reduce many of these deaths. A vaccine tested in the Gambia has proven to be effective against pneumonia, thus reducing hospital admissions and increasing survival rates.

The Southern Africa Editors’ Forum (Saef) and the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) have condemned the detention and harassment of the editor of the Gambian newspaper, The Independent, by that country’s intelligence agents, according to a statement. Musa Saidykhan was taken from his office in Banjul after he had written a story in his newspaper about how South African President Thabo Mbeki, had promised to help Gambian journalists by interceding with the government there over media repression. At the recent TAEF launch conference in Johannesburg, Saidykhan asked President Thabo Mbeki to raise the unsolved murder of Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara last December with the Gambian authorities.

A fearless newspaper editor in Gambia has been selected as the winner of the 2005 CJFE International Press Freedom Awards. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has announced that it will honour Alagi Yorro Jallow of Gambia and Mykola Veresen of Ukraine at its awards dinner in Toronto on 1 November 2005, in recognition of the journalists' courage in defending press freedom. Jallow, the managing editor of the daily "Independent", was chosen for his courageous efforts to defend press freedom in Gambia, despite numerous obstacles

Reporters Without Borders has launched an Africa-wide radio appeal in connection with the murder of prominent journalist Deyda Hydara, which it said Gambia's government has "spent the last six months trying to hush up". Hydara was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Banjul on the evening of 16 December 2004 while at the wheel of his car. Six months after his murder, on 16 June 2005, the organisation called on radios across Africa to broadcast a 30-second spot featuring the voice of his son, Baba Hydara.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has voiced "revulsion" at a government-orchestrated campaign to smear murdered journalist Deyda Hydara following the release of a report by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on its ongoing investigation into his death. The report is full of gratuitous detail about the journalist's private life and absurd theories about the motives for the murder.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the biweekly newspaper The Independent, which lost its printing press in an unsolved arson in April 2004, has been forced to stopped publishing entirely after its printing arrangement with the private Daily Observer was abruptly terminated. The Independent has not published since May 6 and is still looking for an alternative way to print, according to Editor Musa Saidykhan. Other Gambian printing and publishing outlets have refused the paper's requests for a contract.

To commemorate World Press Freedom Day, the Gambia Press Union (GPU) on May 3rd, 2005 launched a "Deyda Hydara Foundation for Freedom of Expression" in memory of Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on December 16, 2004. According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) - Conakry source, the newly elected GPU President, Madi Ceesay explained that the Foundation's main objectives would be to support freedom of expression and media rights in the Gambia and ensure the protection of the lives and properties of journalists who are threatened because of their views.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights will hold its 37th Ordinary Session from the 27th April to 11th May 2005 in Banjul, The Gambia. During this Session, which will be attended by delegates from State Parties to the African Charter, representatives of National African Human Rights Institutions, as well as representatives of International and Non-Governmental Organisations, the participants will discuss in particular, the general human rights situation in Africa. Despite the improvements registered so far, human rights conditions on the Continent still remain fragile and of major concern and require increased vigilance on the part of the African Commission, the international institutions, of Non-Governmental Organisations and of Civil Society in general.

Epidemiological studies indicate that unsafe and illegal abortions contribute to 13 per cent of Gambia's maternal deaths. The National Reproductive Health Policy document states that complications as a result of unsafe abortions account for a large number of maternal deaths in the country. This includes sepsis and haemorrhage. The maternal mortality rate is currently 730 per 100,000 live births.

A string of unsolved arson attacks, a series of unchecked threats, and the passage of restrictive new laws have created deep mistrust between the Gambia's government and its small independent press. Suspicions have been compounded by the December 2004 murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara and the government's failure to bring the perpetrators to justice. These are the findings of a CPJ delegation that visited the Gambia from April 6 to 12.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has voiced amazement after Pap Saine, co-owner of "The Point" newspaper and partner of murdered journalist Deyda Hydara, was interrogated on 17 March 2005 at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in Banjul, as a suspect in Hydara's murder. Saine was questioned at length about the newspaper's management and tax situation. "Deyda Hydara's killers are still at large, but the Gambian intelligence services find nothing better to do than treat his partner with suspicion," RSF said.

After learning that a second draconian press law was secretly promulgated on 28 December, Reporters Without Borders reiterated its appeal to the international community to put pressure on President Yahya Jammeh to stop his mounting crackdown on Gambia's news media. "Gambia's president clearly intends to keep tight control on journalists during a period of unrest and in the approach to a crucial election year," the press freedom organization said. "The silence of his African and European counterparts leaves his hands free to turn Gambia into one of the West African countries that most restrict press freedom."

Gambian authorities have arrested a Lebanese businessman in connection with the murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara, according to local press reports. Wally Mahmoud Hakim was detained after officials found arms in his house. Authorities gave no details about whether they had specifically linked any of the guns with the killing. While local journalists cautiously welcomed the arrest, they have urged officials to investigate the "Green Boys," a pro-government group that has issued numerous threats to independent journalists who report critically on ruling authorities, as Hydara did.

Reporters Without Borders has voiced "outrage" at the treatment reserved for the press in Gambia, where President Yahya Jammeh promulgated at least one press law on 28 December without the Gambia Press Union (GPU) - the journalists' union - ever being able to get a copy. "Gambia sinks deeper into darkness and the international community pretends not to see," the press freedom organization said. "Gambia's journalists have learned through the press that, despite the appeals of African journalists and international organizations, the president surreptitiously promulgated a draconian press law without the government seeing the need to tell them for two months."