Gambian lawmakers on Monday, 21 June 2021, attached severe penalty against trafficking through tourism. The severe penalty had been instituted by the country’s lawmakers when they amended section 13 of the Tourism Offences Act of 2003.
The Assembly instituted it by incorporating a provision relating to trafficking and other connected matters, while considering the Tourism Offences Bill 2021 at the Assembly.
Section 13 of the Tourism principal Act sets the penalty for trafficking at not less than Fifty thousand dalasis (D50,000) and an imprisonment for a term not less than five years.
With the new amendment, the country’s lawmakers have made penalties more severe, by increasing the fine to not less than One hundred thousand (D100,000) and in addition to life imprisonment for offenders.
It could be recalled that Lawyer Abubacarr Tambadou, the former Attorney General and Justice Minister who tabled the bill before the National Assembly, had informed Legislators that the bill is a trail-blazer for the recognition, observation and the domestication of international obligations and commitments, relating to women’s rights into domestic law.
Tambadou had said, “This amendment is intended to review and amend the provisions of the Act that are discriminatory against women as mandated by section 25 of the Women’s Act”.
