Ramadan is a big holidy. There are even special lights to help celebrate it at “the traffic light”, the first traffic light in The Gambia, and the Africell headquarters. This was a nice outing on what was my last full night in The Gambia.

Holding kids attention can be a challenge under even the best of circumstances. Our law students used some inventive ways to hold kids attention. Above is a drama used to demonstrate how children can end up being trafficked. Below, midway through a 2 hour class, they got the kids up and moving.

We had another group of law students present at St. Teresa’s school. They ccovered children’s rights to education, the law against child marriage and FGM. The group on the right covered human trafficking. They also provided detailed information on how to get help if these problems arise, perhaps the most important piece of the lesson. These were younger students, but they were also engaged. The did a great job and we learned a lot from this experience.

I think it is quite possible these groups could put together a curriculum they could present in schools on all the topics we covered this summer and make it a whole semester long curriculum. Also post it on Facebook. I hope they will consider doing so.

Ambassador Pat Alsup, an Obama appointee, invited me to meet with her at her office early in my Fulbright Specialist work with the Law Clinic in The Gambia. She clearly understood the mission to teach students the law while serving the community. So I asked her to come speak at the law school and she accepted.

On the left, Ambassador Alsup is meeting individually with UTG Law Clinic students. Nearly every student asked her a question. We could have gone on, but I was already making us late for the general seminar upstairs.

The photo on the right is Ambassador Alsup speaking at our general seminar aimed mostly at the Faculty of Law students and staff. The seminar was

Access to Justice: Doing Our Part

The speakers talked about how we all need to do our part in working toward a more just society in The Gambia.
Featured Speakers inlcuded Patricia Alsup, United States Ambassador; Malick H.B Jallow Esq., LLB(Hons),BL,PDIL,聽IACR;聽David W. Tushaus, Fulbright Specialist, University of The Gambia; and staff rom the Institute for Human Rights & Development in Africa (IHRDA). Hosting was Christopher Gray, Acting Director UTG Law Clinic and Peter Mendy, Assistant Director, UTG Law Clinic.

These girls are getting an education. Not all girls are so fortunate. This is a global issue. Child marriage is a related issue we struggled with in the Law Clinic in The Gambia. The Gambia law clearly requires a person to be 18 to marry, unless Sharia law is interpreted to provide an exception. This potential conflict of laws may need to be resolved in the courts. Unfortunately, child marriage is clearly legal in the United States, even though child marriage violates international laws the U.S.聽has agreed to.

“The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women provides for the Prohibition of Child Marriage in Article 16.3 While child marriage per se is not referred to in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention contains a provision calling for the abolishment of traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children. In addition, child marriage is connected to other children鈥檚 rights, such as the right to express their views freely, the right to protection from all forms of abuse, and the right to be protected from harmful traditional practices and is often addressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The CRC prohibits States parties from permitting or giving validity to a marriage between persons who have not attained their majority. In the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.'”

厂别别听

On the left you see what I think of as The Gambian version of the Hokey Pokey. I wish I had a video. On the right is more of a lecture approach. These and other styles were used to teach about a variety of subjects. The right to an education, privacy, freedom of association, human trafficking and other issues were addressed by our student teams.

We allowed the teams to focus on what they thought was important. They had to teach about the law, as we understand it to be in The Gambia, not cultural or religious practices or norms. They had to focus on legal rights that rise to human rights. The goal is for youth to be able to recognize rights and help themselves or others protect them.

Some students did not agree on the law in relation to some topics, like child marriage and FGM. Students who disagreed on what the law was did not have to teach on those topics. The goal is for children to be able to recognize rights and help themselves or others protect them. In cases where there may be a conflict of laws, eventually the courts should resolve that difference. For example, some students taught that the law bans child marriage. Specifically, they had to talk in terms of the constitution and child protection laws that require a person be at least 18 years of age to be married. This raised discussions over the incorporation of Sharia Law into the Constitution of The Gambia, which some students argued meant Muslims could engage in child marriage under certain interpretations of their Sharia Law.聽All this lead to some heated debates in and out of the classroom. It was a learning experience for us all.

For example, some students (not pictured here) taught that the law bans child marriage. Specifically, they had to talk in terms of the constitution and child protection laws that require a person be at least 18 years of age to be married, an older threshold than allowed in at least some of the United States when parents give permission. This raised discussions over the incorporation of Sharia Law into the Constitution of The Gambia. Some students argued this meant Muslims could engage in child marriage under certain interpretations of their Sharia Law.聽All this lead to some heated debates in and out of the classroom. It was resolved so the clinic could go on. It was a learning experience for us all.

Our goal is to make the Street Law lessons practical, everyday lessons that engage the students in critical thinking. I think our law students pulled this off pretty well.

It was sunny, about 30C/86F in Kotu last Tuesday. There was a nice breeze if you were under a tree, but not in a classroom with 50 students. The electricity was out, so even the overhead fans were still. We taught right after lunch, but most of these students didn’t have lunch. It is Ramadan and most are fasting. No food or water from sun up to sun down.

On the left you see the conditions have not dampened the spirits of our UTG Law Clinic students, or Acting Director Chris and Assistant Director Peter. They had just finished their first “Street Law” program for a total of 150 bright and engaged students. On the right, you see them pictured with their students that day.

Street Law develops classroom and grassroots programs that organize law school students to educate younger students and communities about the law, democracy, and human rights. The program was started at Georgetown Law School in 1972 and has expanded to other law schools in the U.S. and abroad since then. Street Law is now a NGO.

They did a great job with the project.