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20.4 C
City of Banjul
Monday, February 17, 2025
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How far has the transitional justice gone?

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It is generally agreed that after years of bad governance in a country, there is a need to have a transitional justice system which will identify culprits of human rights violation and bring them to justice. It should also identify the victims of rights violations with a view to compensating them and bringing about some form of closure for them.

It is for this reason that when in 2017 the current government came into power, they set up a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to look into the issue of violations during the twenty-two year reign of Yahya Jammeh. The commission then set out to unearth and document all the rights violations that reportedly took place in the country in that period.

The Commission has since completed its work and submitted a comprehensive report to the government. Cabinet then scrutinised the report and issued a white paper on it. The Commission had also submitted a series of recommendations which included prosecutions, reparations and compensations for the victims.

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The Commission recommended that those who bear the most responsibility for some of the violations should be prosecuted to the full force of the law. A hybrid court was to be set up so that the former president Yahya Jammeh could be tried for his part in these rights violations.  The international community has been very supportive of the efforts of the government as this is one way to ensure that peace prevails in the country.

Recently, the president of Ghana, on a one day visit to The Gambia, promised that his country will support The Gambia in its transitional justice efforts. This is extremely important considering that ‘in July 2005, approximately 44 Ghanaian migrants and other West Africans were killed in The Gambia by the ‘Junglers’, a paramilitary unit under the direct orders of then-President Yahya Jammeh. The migrants, bound for Europe, were detained on suspicion of plotting a coup and executed over several days. Efforts by Ghana and international bodies at the time to investigate were obstructed by Jammeh, and families of victims continue to demand accountability.’

The government of President Adama Barrow is urged to make good use of the goodwill of the international community to ensure that the transitional justice effort is expedited.

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