By Astou Jawara
The Gambian judiciary on Tuesday, 15 March, 2022 opened a two-day conference in partnership with the American Bar Association (ABA) Rule of Law initiative on International Criminal Justice (ICJ) and Comparative Experiences.
The objective of the colloquium (conference) was to foster dialogue and exchange amongst Gambian judiciary, international and national experts on best practices for adjudicating international crimes, promote and enhance the understanding of international criminal law jurisprudence, to ensure access to justice for victims of human rights violations, amongst other objectives.
Held at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre in Bijilo, the conference participants included judges of the Higher Courts of The Gambia, West African and Common Law judges, Legal and judicial experts from the sub-region and beyond.
Among the topics discussed were: International tribunals and fair trial standards (Torture), Retroactivity of laws (SGBV), and Law on enforced disappearances (approaches and tools for international criminal law trials).
Chief Justice Hon. Hassan B. Jallow, in addressing the gathering said “this colloquium, supported by the American Bar Association, is among many interventions being supported in partnership with the judiciary as the clear mandate emanating from the TRRC report, has highlighted public expectations on the delivery of justice from the judicial arm of government.
The country’s chief judge told his audience the colloquium would provide a platform for interaction between members of the bench, international and regional experts, but also between members of the bench themselves as it aimed to be a peer-to-peer forum.
According to Justice Jallow, the Gambian judiciary has played a crucial part in upholding the fundamental rights of citizens as enshrined in the constitution and other regional/international mechanisms.
However, he admitted that ensuring justice for almost two million people in the context of transitional justice might be a challenging task, primarily because the Gambian judiciary has never had to deal with such as the one they might face following the publication of the government White Paper on the TRRC recommendations.
Gambia’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lawyer Dawda Jallow, speaking at the convergence recalled that the TRRC, after hearing from 393 witnesses and sieving through a 2,599 statements, submitted its final report to the government on the 25th of November, 2021 and was subsequently made public on the 24th of December 2021.
However, the government’s chief legal advisor added that the government of the Gambia is actively working on producing the ‘white paper’ that will contain the government’s position on the implementation of the TRRC recommendations.
“I must hasten to assure you all that the government is committed to ensuring that the victims of human rights violations, during the period under review, not only got justice but are adequately compensated for all manner of injuries caused to them by the former regime [of ex-President Yahya Jammeh],” AG Jallow stated.
Additionally, he went on, the government of the Gambia in a bid to domesticate the Rome Statute, has drafted and tabled before the National Assembly the International Crimes Bill which would form part of the Bills that “the sixth [incoming] Legislature will consider and pass in due course”.
As part of their commitment to ensuring non-recurrence of the past human rights violations, Justice Minister Jallow averred that “government has taken major steps, and is still taking concrete steps to ensure that the right institutional and legal frameworks are put in place”.
