By Madi Jobarteh
I am pleased to announce that I have formally registered and established the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice in the Gambia.
The Centre draws its name and inspiration from its namesake, Edward Francis Small, who was a pioneering activist for human rights and democracy, a journalist for truth, a trade unionist for worker’s rights, a fighter for farmers, and the conscience keeper through whose struggles and uncompromising stances for equality and justice the Independence of the Gambia eventually emerged. The Centre intends to continue the work and legacy of EF Small to pursue the creation of a better, democratic, just, and prosperous Gambia.
Our motto is Freedom, Equality, Transparency, and Accountability.
The EF Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) is a human rights organization whose mission is to promote and protect human rights using national, regional, and international instruments, mechanisms, tools, and processes. We fulfill this mandate by engaging in public education, capacity building, advocacy, activism, strategic litigation, campaigns, research, knowledge production, and forging partnerships.
Through our strategies, we would provide individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions in the country with the tools to become better and more effective human rights defenders, promoters, and monitors. We would also be ready to hold the State and all its agencies accountable for their legal obligations and for their acts of omission and commission.
In line with the creeds that EF Small lived by, the Centre stands ready to be held responsible for its decisions and actions. Our core values of accountability, independence, credibility, transparency, impartiality, justice, inclusivity, and integrity guide our relationships with the people, partners, and entities we work with.
We submit to and uphold all human rights principles and standards as the foundation of our management, governance, operations, and decision-making processes and structures. Accountability, transparency, and full disclosure characterize the utilization and management of resources in our care. To guarantee our independence and objectivity, the Centre will not seek funding and partnerships from entities and individuals that have the potential to control and limit us.
As we hold the Gambia in trust for our children and posterity, the EF Small Centre for Rights and Justice would champion good governance, the culture of human rights, accountability, respect for the rule of law and due process, the right to development, and ethical leadership both within the State and society, including businesses, political parties, and development partners.
We hold that a better Gambia is possible where public institutions are accountable to the people, public wealth is put only for the service and wellbeing of our people, and there is zero tolerance for corruption and impunity. We would call for the judicious use of public wealth, strengthen institutions of governance, demand efficiency and optimal performance from public service providers, challenge injustices, inequalities, and discrimination in society, and show the people the power and voice they have and how to use them for their benefit.
One hundred years ago, EF Small shouted, “No taxation without representation.” Today, one hundred years later, Gambians elect their representatives and pay taxes, yet continue to suffer inadequate opportunities, poor and erratic services, gross inequalities, injustices, and discrimination in their homes and communities. We will come to their defense.
We are informing all Gambians that EF Small Centre is your organization. We welcome all citizens, communities, organizations, institutions, and individuals in the public and private sectors, political parties, the media, civil society, and across the country to work with us and create a better, more prosperous, more enabling, and more equal Gambia that rests on a foundation of human rights and dignity and the rule of law.
We will provide updates on our progress as we seek to fully establish our programs, structures, tools, and processes.
