"It is the responsibility of every government to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizenry and to ensure that the rule of law and justice prevails at all times. Hovewer, children accused of committing crimes are more susceptible to human rights abuses and violations of their legal rights while in detention, either in police cells, prisons or authorised detention centres. They mostly suffer from both the agents of the state as well as from inmates. These violations often take place [behind] closed doors, and society being primarily concerned with keeping offenders locked up rather than about their conditions and human rights being respected, the cries of these children to be treated with dignity and worth go unnoticed despite the constitutional and international guarantee of their rights. The problem therefore is first to examine what rights do children in trouble with the law have under international law in general and specifically within the African human rights sytem with special emphasiis on the rights of children deprived of their liberty. Secondly, to examine how these international instruments are given effect domestically and whether there are challenges encountered in realising these rights. These are the main issues that this research intends to grapple with using South Africa and the Gambia as case studies with a view to making recommendations for better protection of the rights of this category of children. ... This research consist of four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. It will give the basis and structure of the research which will include a general overview of the problem in the two countries under study. In the second chapter, it will explore the relevant international and African normative framework that protects the rights of children in trouble with the law and the obligations of states towards these children. However, the main focus will be the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), because they are the two main human rights instruments providing specific protection for children's rights in all spheres. The third chapter will be a comparative analysis of the rights of children deprived of their liberty as provided in the municipal laws of South African and the Gambia vis a vis the minimum standards set [out] in the CRC and ACRWC. It will discuss the following issues, namely: defintion of a child, age of criminal responsibility, the best interest, detention as a last resort and for the shortest possible time, separation from adult detainees, role of parents, establishment of separate criminal procedures, right to legal respresentation and assistance, and sentencing options. It will also examine the problems and challenges for implementation. The fourth chapter will conclude and make recommendations on how best to implement the laws and who should be the role players in ensuring that the rights of these children are well protected." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor Gilles Cistac at the Faculty of Law, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mocambique / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

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In 1763, France had just suffered a devastating loss to the British in the Seven Years' War. In almost an instant, France's claims to West Africa shrank to the tiny island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal and a few trading posts on the mainland. This drastic reversal of fortunes forced France to reevaluate its place in the world and rethink its overall imperial objectives and colonial strategies, and in an effort to regroup, the French Empire sent a new governor, Pierre François Guillaume Poncet de la Rivière, on a mission to regain its foothold in West Africa. From this tiny island, France eventually succeeded in overturning its devastating losses and establishing itself as the dominant force in the region over the next two centuries, so deeply ingraining its influence into the core of West Africa that its imperial influence is still felt today.Despite France's future success, Poncet's tenure as governor was fraught with mismanagement and poor planning. Poncet believed he had the full backing of the Duc de Choiseul, but Poncet's excessive zeal, inability to effectively employ and listen to subordinates, and rash interactions with the British undermined the French presence in the region and ultimately led to his dismissal. Poncet's governorship sheds new light on Choiseul's goals for the Senegambia region and his underestimation of what it took to establish a strong presence.

Implementationsproblematiken inom de mänskliga rättigheterna är en pågående diskussion. Denna undersökning behandlar hur artikel 16.2 implementerats i Gambia och vad det kan finnas för svårigheter i implementeringen av en artikel som behandlar barnäktenskap. Genom fallstudien som metod och implementeringsforskning, Susan Möller Okin samt Sheyla Benhabibs teori gällande grupprättigheter kontra kvinnors rättigheter på individnivå undersöks hur artikel 16.2 i CEDAW implementerats i Gambia. Artikel 16.2, vilken beskriver barnets trolovning och äktenskap, dekonstrueras och utifrån det diskuteras innebörden i artikeln vilket senare jämförs med Gambias nationella lagstiftning. Undersökningen består av att se hur artikel 16.2 implementerats i Gambiaoch vad det kan finnas för svårigheter i implementeringen av en artikel som behandlarbarnäktenskap. Slutligen konstateras implementeringsproblematikens komplexitet och hur ett fall och en implementering av en specifik artikel i en specifik stat inte är den andra lik. Därmed inte sagt att det inte går att eliminera de grövsta misstagen genom att lära av tidigare försök och forskning. / Implementation issues within Human Rights is an ongoing discussion. This study deals with how Article 16.2 was implemented in The Gambia and what difficulties can arise in the implementation of an article on child marriage. Through case study as a method and implementation research, Susan Moller Okin and Sheyla Benhabibs theory of group rights versus the rights of women on an individual level I wish to examinate how Article 16.2 in CEDAW is implemented in the Gambia.Article 16.2, which describes the child betrothal and marriage, is being deconstructed and from that discussed the meaning of the article, which later is compared with the Gambia national legislation. The study consists of seeing how Article 16.2 was implemented in The Gambia and what the difficulties in the implementation of an article on child marriage may be. Finally it is confirmed that implementation issues complexity, a case and an implementation of a specific item in a specific state is not like the other. That said, it is not possible to eliminate the largest mistakes by learning from previous experiments and research.