THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA’S COMBINED REPORT ON THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN & PEOPLES’ RIGHTS & INITIAL REPORT ON THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Parastatals and Local Government Executives have been organised by the Government in partnership with international partners. The major goal for Gender Responsive Budgeting is to ensure that the budget becomes gender focused, i.e. to ensure that gender issues are included from the beginning of planning stages to the budget which is now an approached under the Programme for accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) 1 and II. Gender Responsive budgeting is recognized in Gambia as an effective measure in creating gender equality and empowerment for socioeconomic development. The Directorate of planning at MOFEA is committed to oblige sectors to include gender in their sector policies, plans, programmes and budgets. PART C: SPECIFIC PROVISONS OF THE PROTOCOL THEME ONE: EQUALITY / NON-DISCRIMINATION 1.1 Elimination of discrimination. The Constitution As highlighted above, Section 17 of the Constitution provides for the protection of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all persons in The Gambia irrespective of his or her colour, race, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property birth or other status. The Women’s Act 2010 After a comprehensive review of national laws and policies, The Women’s Act 2010 was enacted as a milestone gender equality legislation, incorporating and domesticating all the legal provisions of the National Policy for the Advancement of Gambian Women and Girls, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. The Act defines discrimination against women as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction or any differential treatment based on sex and whose objectives or effects compromise or destroy the recognition, enjoyment or the exercise by women, regardless of their marital status, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all spheres of life”. The Act is divided into 12 parts: 127