By: Mustapha Jarju
Co-founder of the Women’s Association for Victim Empowerment (WAVE), Zainab Lowe Baldeh has raised an eyebrow at the lack of government commitment towards the accomplishment of the TRRC Task on the condition of bodies of November 11 soldiers exhumed in Yundum Barracks.
“I will want the State to tell us the stage of those (soldiers) bodies that were exhumed and what is stopping the government from proceeding on the TRRC recommendations on this issue because it has been a long time from 2019 to date.
“We don’t understand the level of trauma these people are living which is very disheartening,” Zainab asked during a recent engagement with the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Justice at the Gambia Centre for Victims of Human Rights Violations Office in Kololi.
The WAVE co-founder stated that these are serious issues happening in the country that the government needs to address, saying WAVE as an association is working closely with the victims and understands how they feel about the level of trauma.
Madam Lowe Baldeh argued that the issue of enforced disappearances is an ongoing violation, explaining that the TRRC did findings on the identifications of the graves where some of the victims were buried, and the TRRC transferred its job to the Justice Ministry, which is not continue as at now.
She further asked the government of the Gambia through the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to tell the public about the condition and what has been done so far since the bodies were discovered in 2019.
“What is the State going to tell us about the state of the bodies that are lying out there, these are victims, these are Gambians who are sitting in their homes waiting for answers from the Government just to see the government do something about this issue,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Madam Lowe stressed that the communication between the State and the victims is fragile as the state is not providing any relevant information about issues happening about the concerns of the victims.
“If there is no update coming from the state, the victim stakeholder organizations will not be able to provide appropriate information to the public,” she stressed.