Banjul, 23 June 2021: IHRDA is organizing, from 23-24 June 2021, a training workshop for Gambia lawyers on strategies to boost implementation of recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC), within the framework of increasing accountability for enforced disappearances (ED) and extrajudicial killings (EJK) in The Gambia.
Discussions touch on legal frameworks on ED and EJK, and using Gambian courts, regional and international mechanisms on human rights and criminal law, as well as universal jurisdiction, to seek State accountability for ED and EJK. The workshop will also include a session on advocating for the domestication of the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and practical exercises on litigating ED and EJK cases.
It is worth noting that, within the framework of The Gambia’s transitional justice processes since the ousting of former President Yahya Jammeh in January 2017, Government created the TRRC which effectively went operational in 2019, and has been investigating human rights violations and atrocities committed under the Jammeh regime. The TRRC is expected to submit its final report and recommendations in the months ahead, which will significantly determine the next developments in The Gambia’s transitional justice processes. This requires that lawyers should be on the alert to initiate actions and support victims and survivors of violations once the report and recommendations are published.
The workshop falls within the framework of efforts to ensure access to justice and remedy for victims of human rights violations perpetrated especially by agents of the Yahya Jammeh regime during his 22 years as President of The Gambia. It is one in a series of activities planned for the Gambia in a 2-year project funded by the European Union and jointly implemented in The Gambia, Mexico and Nepal by IHRDA, Trial International, Swisspeace, the Human Rights Justice Centre, and Fundación para la Justicia y Estado Democratico de Derecho (FJEDD), focusing on ED and EJK.
