The United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) supports the prosecution of crimes committed in Gambia during the era of exiled former president Yahya Jammeh.
It also supports a new international inquiry into the 2005 massacre of more than 50 West African migrants.
The UN’s recommendation to duly investigate and prosecute without delay all cases of enforced disappearances is a positive sign, said 17 groups that have been campaigning for justice in The Gambia.
“The process must go beyond truth telling and perpetrators must be brought to justice,” the WGEID said in its report.
According to the statement the follow-up report presented during the recently concluded session of the Human Rights Council is an important sign of support from the international community for accountability in The Gambia.
“The report underlines the importance of the work of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), as well as the need to prosecute those responsible for the crimes committed under Jammeh.”
The WGEID statement follows a declaration by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan that “justice must happen” for Jammeh-era crimes”, the statement said.
“From the International Criminal Court to the United Nations, the world is speaking with one voice: there must – and there will – be justice for the crimes committed during Yahya Jammeh’s government,” said Fatoumatta Sandeng, spokesperson for the #Jammeh2Justice campaign, and daughter of the opposition leader Solo Sandeng, who was killed in custody in 2016.
“Amnesty and impunity are simply not options,” the statement said.
It noted that these recommendations are being made public at a crucial moment, when the final report of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) is expected to be issued after several delays, and concerns that the Commission’s calls for justice could be swept under the rug.
According to the statement in its report, the UN body saluted the work of the TRRC in its two years of public sessions and stressed the importance of continuing Gambia’s efforts to ensure access to justice and reparations for victims of the Jammeh administration.
The statement said in particular, it makes concrete recommendations for next steps, such as the conduct of criminal investigations into the grave human rights violations, notably enforced disappearances, that were uncovered during the TRRC sessions, and the establishment of specialised hybrid courts to try those alleged responsible for these violations.
