Gambian president Yahya Jammeh: PHOTO/AFP |
Gambia: Governance, Democracy And Respect For The Rule Of Law
Cognizant that the Civil
Society Forum of African NGOs met in Yamoussoukro to commemorate 25 years of
the institution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as a Pan
African Organ mandated to spearhead and safe guard the fundamental rights of
the African citizenry;
Considering the thematic
pillars that the CSO Forum advanced under the auspices of the African Centre
for Democracy and Human Rights Studies- popular participation and democracy;
human rights and rule of law; penal system conditions; combating impunity;
Asserting the African
(Banjul) Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights (adopted 27 June 1981), which
reached its third decade in 2011, and reflecting on the prescribed articles:
article 3- equality before the law and protection by the law; article 4-
respect for human life; article 6- right to liberty and protection from
arbitrary arrest; article 7- right to fair trial and presumption of innocence
until proven guilty; article 9: right to receive information and express and
disseminate such information within the law; article 10- freedom of
association; article 11- freedom of assembly; article 12- freedom of movement;
article 25 duty to promote human rights; article 26- duty to guarantee
independence of courts;
Aware of the fact
that the Gambia government hosts the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights and is bound by an agreement it signed with the African Union;
Recalling such
obligations that the Government of the Gambia has towards supporting the
mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and upholding
the fundamental principles of the continental charter on human rights, also
referred to as the ‘Banjul Charter’;
Further
recalling
the multiple demands made by the ACHPR, ECOWAS, the African Union, United
Nations Human Rights Council and civil society and rights groups for the Gambia
to honor its commitments to the African Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights
and other international treaties dealing with rights issues;
Alarmed by the rapid
deterioration of rule of law, further erosion of human rights, continued
disappearances and statutory murder as well as wanton abuse of executive power
in The Gambia as evidenced by recent events, which indicates that the country
is presided over by an undemocratic regime, where impunity and terror are
firmly entrenched;
Fully cognisant of that fact
that 22 August 2012 is a day that shall live in infamy, when nine death row
inmates, including foreign nationals, were executed by firing squad upon
pronouncement by the President of the Republic of The Gambia; without due
process or procedure, an act that is nothing short of statutory murder;
Condemn the acts of the
execution and continued threats by the Government of the Gambia to resort to
more executions to serve as a deterrent to criminal behaviour;
Expressing
deepest sympathies to the families of the inmates who were unlawfully executed
on the night of 22 August 2012;
Aware that the
government of The Gambia declared a return to the 25 year moratorium on the
death penalty in September 2012;
Fully aware that there are
still 38 inmates on death row who may succumb to the same fate as their nine
counterparts;
Call to the
attention
of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights that the Gambia
government is not a reliable partner, based on its track record of 18 years; it
has breached its obligations towards its citizens, desecrated the 1997
Constitution [of The Gambia] and continues to break with regional and
continental norms, standards and treaties, which it signs but does not respect
nor implement;
Cognisant of the
continued
infractions on the fundamental rights of the Gambian citizenry by the Gambia
government specifically in the following instances- the assassination of Deyda
Hydara and the extra-judicial killings of 48 innocent migrants, [mostly
Ghanaians] in 2005;
disappearances
of Ebrima (Chief) Manneh and Daba Marena and five other security officials in
2006; the abduction, stigmatisation and drugging of mostly elderly women
accused of being ‘witches’ in 2007; and the continuous harassment and jailing
of journalists and illegal closure of private media houses deemed critical of
the Gambia Government; and the systematic dismantling of institutions of
governance- the legislature and judiciary particularly;
Concerned by the
continued threats meted out to human rights defenders- especially given
utterances made by President Jammeh, that he cannot guarantee the safety of
human rights defenders working in The Gambia;
Further
Concerned
that the rule of law is not respected by the Government of The Gambia;
Shocked at the contempt
shown by The Gambia government to the ECOWAS Court, by the refusal to honour
the court ruling to produce Chief Ebrima Manneh and compensate his family, as
well as compensate Musa Saidykhan for torture meted out to him whilst under the
custody of state security agents;
Alarmed by the
continued acts of police brutality, and the inhumane prison conditions in Mile
II, a penitentiary that registers at least one death per month, due to poor
hygiene conditions and overcrowding, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases,
lack of access to adequate healthcare, poor nutrition, torture and rape;
Appraised of the fact that
evidence further shows that The Government of The Gambia has breached every
single principle that the African Human Rights Charter espouses; and that the
Gambia government has been requested, on numerous occasions, to respect its
obligations to the Human Rights Charter, especially given the fact that it is
hosting the institution;
Disturbed by the evidence
which points to the government of the Gambia’s continued position to ignore the
calls for reforms by its peers, civil society and the international community;
and its determination to continue to violate the rights of its own citizens
through the rule of terror, and instilling fear within the general public;
We hereby call upon the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights, for the third time in as many years, to use its
influence, exercise its mandate and prevail upon the African Union leadership
to relocate the Human Rights Commission to another AU member state that has a
demonstrable track record of respecting human rights, rule of law and good
governance; the Government of the Gambia does not possess the moral authority
in principle and practice, to continue to be bestowed with the privilege of
hosting a human rights commission, since it has demonstrated time and again
that the protection of and respect for human rights is not a priority.
The
Gambia Government is best known for its contempt of the principles of human
rights; and its continued acts of rights abuse calls for it to be stripped of
the privilege of hosting a Pan African Organ which has a mandate to promote,
protect and advance the fundamental principles of rule of law and democracy
utilising a human rights based approach;
Done in
Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire, on the 25th anniversary of the African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 6 October 2012
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