There is growing concern about such issues as commercial sexual exploitation of children as well as child abuse by family members and tourists. The protection infrastructure is also underdeveloped and is insufficient to deal with the issues.
Collaborative action is the only way to achieve results across the country and the CPA has developed as the embodiment of such an approach and is strongly supported by Government Departments such as Social Welfare, Justice, Immigration, Trade Industry and Employment, Department of Tourism and the Department of State for Education; UN Agencies such as UNICEF and WHO; Bilaterals such as Peace Corps; Local NGO's such as Bafrow and Gamcotrap and international NGO's such as Action Aid, Christian Children's Fund, VSO and APSO.
The Child Protection Alliance is founded on the principles that can be found in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women; and the International Labour Organisation Conventions 138 and 182.
All of these Conventions have been ratified by the Government of the Gambia.