Health Legislation

This law was published in the Official Journal on 10 May 2022. It provides measures to fight violence against women.

This Law relates to human reproductive health.

This act has the aim to consolidate and reform the laws relating to the protection and welfare of children and to provide for incidental matters. The Act covers aspects such as the rights of a child and the responsibilities of its parents; the child in need of care and protection; the offences to health and welfare of children; the conditions to take a child into care and for adoption; trafficking of children; child rehabilitation and conflict with criminal law; police powers and duties regarding children and legislation regarding minor’s criminal law.

The Act implement the legal provisions of the National Policy for the advancement of Gambian Women and Girls, and incorporates and enforces the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

This Act sets out the rights and responsibilities of children, consolidates the laws relating to children, provides for the care, protection and maintenance of children, establishes a Children’s Court, provides for a criminal justice system for children and other connected purposes.

The Children's Act of 1998 reforms and consolidates the law relating to children, provides for the rights of the child, maintenance and adoption, regulates child labour and apprenticeship, for ancillary matters concerning children generally and provides for related matters.

This Act determines the circumstances in which and conditions under which the pregnancy of a woman may be terminated; and provides for matters connected therewith.