Experts of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances Commend the Gambia on Reparations Act, Ask Questions on Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission and the Timeline for Victim Compensation.

 

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today concluded its consideration of the initial report of the Gambia, with Committee Experts commending the State on the reparations act, while raising questions on the work of the county’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission and the timeline for victims to receive compensation.

Milica Kolakovic-Bojovic, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the Committee was pleased to receive information that the Gambia had passed the reparations act 2024, which established the Reparations Commission and the Victims Fund, and also to hear that the Truth Commission had already provided some victims with reparations. Ms. Kolakovic-Bojovic asked for further details on the provisions of the Act.

Ms. Kolakovic-Bojovic said the Committee recognised the importance of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission act 2018, which stipulated that the work of the Commission would result in recommendations for establishing appropriate preventive mechanisms, to be monitored by the National Human Rights Commission and its annual reports. Olivier de Frouville, Committee Chairperson and Country Rapporteur, asked how the State party was implementing the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission for prosecutions?

A Committee Expert said real cases of enforced disappearances had taken place in the country, involving the Junglers from the former regime, and it was likely they would be prosecuted. The victims were known and were still dealing with their suffering. Would those victims have to wait until the cases were prosecuted and the perpetrators convicted? It was likely the reparations would not be paid by the Junglers but rather the State. Should victims have to wait until the completion of the trials for compensation or reparations?

The delegation said the programme for the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission was ambitious, and the State planned to implement these within five years. Apart from the few cases prosecuted, including those of the nine intelligence officers, the State had taken a decision to do away with the piecemeal approach, until the Special Prosecutor was appointed and the Special Court was ready. The advertisement for the recruitment of the Special Prosecutor would soon be launched. All materials from the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission would then be handed over to the Prosecutor, and they would decide on future prosecutions, including the former President.

Victims did not have to wait for perpetrators to be prosecuted to receive reparations, the delegation said. As they were known, there was nothing they needed to prove. The State understood the process of justice was a different ballgame from recognising someone’s victimhood. There was a set criterion to determine who was a victim, and those who fit this criterion were entitled to everything a victim was entitled to.

Introducing the report, Dawda A. Jallow, Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Republic of the Gambia and head of the delegation, said the history of the Gambia had been shaped by a painful past, in which enforced disappearances were systematically used as a tool of oppression. With the democratic transition in 2017, the Gambia made a firm commitment to break from the past and ensure that such atrocities never happened again. The Gambia ratified the Convention in 2018, and at the First World Conference on Enforced Disappearances in January 2025, the State pledged to finalise the enforced disappearance bill by 2026, ensuring the full domestication of the Convention into the country’s legal framework.

In concluding remarks, Mr. Jallow thanked the Committee for the dialogue which had provided a valuable platform to reflect on progress made under the Convention. The Gambia was committed to strengthening legislation for enforced disappearances, protecting victims and their families, bringing perpetrators of these violations to justice, and ensuring justice and redress for all effected individuals.

Horacio Ravenna, Committee Vice Chair, thanked all those who were involved in the dialogue. Later in the session, the Committee would adopt concluding observations on the Gambia. The Committee looked forward to the Gambia’s goodwill, and the State could count on support from the Committee.

The delegation of the Gambia consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Interior; the Gambia Armed Forces; the Gambia Prison Service; the Gambia Police Force; the State Intelligence Service; and the Permanent Mission of the Gambia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Webcasts of the meetings of the session can be found here, and meetings summaries can be found here.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 March, to begin its consideration of the initial report of the Central African Republic (CED/C/CAF/QAR/1).
Report



The Committee has before it the initial report of the Gambia (CED/C/GMB/1).