Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh is heading to New York to attend a high level discussion among civil society and government representatives at the United Nations Secretariat on Tuesday, September 29, as part of the Community of Democracies.
Dr. Janneh, who is coordinator of Coalition for Change – The Gambia (CCG), is participating at the invitation of Tom Malinowski, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
The United States has recently assumed the presidency of the Community of Democracies. In concert with the country’s “continuing commitment to President Obama’s Stand With Civil Society initiative, the United States intends for the promotion and protection of open civic space to be one of the top priorities of our presidency,” according to Malinowski.
As part of this effort, civil society leaders have been invited to a high-level discussion on the challenges of shrinking civic space from 1:15-3:15 on Tuesday, September 29, in Conference Room 11 of the United Nations Secretariat Building.
“With the assistance of civil society around the world, governments have come to recognize the gravity of the challenges we are facing,” the Assistant Secretary stated.
Dr. Janneh explained that the main purpose of this meeting is for governments that have recognized the need for collective action on civic space to share with one another and with civil society what they are doing and what they plan to do to address the problem.
Three representatives of civil society will present on challenges they or their organizations have encountered while carrying out their work. There will also be high-level interventions from governments that have committed to supporting open civic space by signing the Warsaw Declaration, the Joint Statement on the Promotion and Protection of Civil Society, or both.
Preparations are also in high-gear for the much-awaited International Civil Society Forum on The Gambia set to take place at Downtown Marriott Hotel in New York on Thursday, October 1. Human rights defenders, policy experts, victims of human rights abuse in The Gambia, politicians, and others have reportedly started arriving in New York for the event.
Due to space limitations, would-be participants are asked to RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/