NHRC Says Politicians, Supporters Use “Hate Speech” At Rallies
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission
By Landing Ceesay
The Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Emmanuel Daniel Joof has said that candidates and their supporters still use ‘hate speech” at rallies, despite signing the IEC code of ethics and the Janjanbureh Peace Accord.
“Despite the fact that all the presidential candidates have signed the IEC code of ethics and the Inter-Party Committee Janjanbureh Peace Accord which commits political parties and their supporters to uphold the provisions of the peace accord which amongst them, is not to engage in the utterances and dissemination of hate speech, intimidation, bullying, and the use of threatening, insulting and or abusive language, we still witness hate speech, abusive and threatening language being made at political rallies by supporters of the parties and even some presidential candidates,” Joof said.
The NHRC Chairman made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day training of journalists on Hate Speech organised by the Gambia Press Union (GPU) and its partners.
The two-day training that commenced on Tuesday would conclude on Wednesday.
The training is meant to enable the participant to monitor ‘hate speech’ during the country’s 2021-2023 electoral cycle which began with the general registration of voters in July, then the nomination of presidential candidates in November, and the presidential campaign on 9 November ahead of the December polls, which would be followed by the parliamentary election in April 2022 and local government election in May 2023.
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