Gambia confirm first executions in 27 years

President Jammeh pledged to have all death row inmates executed by mid-September. Photo | BBC |

The Government of The Gambia Monday confirmed it killed nine death row prisoners. It said they were killed by firing squad on Sunday August 26.

The government had earlier denied reports that the prisoners were executed on the night of August 23, four days after President Yahya Jammeh vowed “his government will execute all death sentences in the country by September.”

Amnesty wants world leaders to support ICC

For a decade now, the ICC has been pursuing justice for people who have suffered some of the most serious crimes imaginable.

© Amnesty International

The multinational human rights agency, Amnesty International on July 1, 2012 says it istime for governments the world over to show proper support for theInternational Criminal Court (ICC).

On Sunday, the ICC celebrated a decade of pursuing justice for people who have fallen prey to some of the most serious crimes imaginable.

Amnesty urges Senegal to end impunity for rights abuses

A Senegalese police officer aims his tear gas rifle during clashes with protestors in Dakar (AFP/File, Issouf Sanogo)

(AFP) – Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Senegal's new government to deal with rights violations which have gone unpunished for years in the West African nation.

"After years of impunity, the population has great expectations regarding justice," Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty International's West Africa researcher, said in a statement on a new report entitled 'Senegal: An agenda for human rights'.

ICC: New Prosecutor Takes Reins

Fatou Bensouda to be Sworn In as Second ICC Prosecutor for Nine-Year Term

For Immediate Release
Human Rights Watch (WRW)
Thursday, June 14, 2012

Fatou Bensouda - New ICC chief prosecutor

Brussels - The swearing in of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, comes at a time when expectations for international justice are growing, Human Rights Watch said today.

 

Bensouda will be sworn into office on June 15, 2012, as the current prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, reaches the end of his nine-year term.

Bensouda is taking over an established office with an already sizeable caseload. 

 

The office has opened investigations in seven countries and is conducting preliminary examinations to determine whether to open an investigation in at least seven other countries. 

ARTICLE 19 UPDATE

Oral statement to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

Madam Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Honourable Members of the Commission, Distinguished Representatives of States Parties, Dear Colleagues Human Rights Defenders, Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocols observed.

It is an honour for ARTICLE 19 to address you during this 51st Ordinary Session of the African Commission.

We would first of all like to congratulate you for the tireless efforts your Commission has been making in promoting and protecting human rights on the African continent. 

Human Rights Watch presses NATO look into civilian death in Libya

At least 72 civilians had been killed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO airstrikes during the 2011 war in Libya, one of the world’s leading human rights organisation said on Monday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) blames NATO of failing to admit dozens of civilian casualties had died from air strikes during the war in Libya. It also blames them for not investigating possible unlawful attacks.

In a 76-page report “Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian Casualties in NATO’s Air Campaign in Libya” released on May 14, 2012, examines in detail eight NATO air strikes in Libya that resulted in 72 civilian deaths, including 20 women and 24 children.

NATO: Investigate Civilian Deaths in Libya

At Least 72 Dead in Air Attacks on Unclear Targets

• 

  The funeral in Majer for 34 victims of a NATO air strike on two rural compounds on August 8, 2011.

  © 2011 Sidney Kwiram/Human Rights Watch

Campaign to end FGM intensifies

Picture: GAMCOTRAP

More in this roundup....

Lovers in ‘deadly’ fracas 

Campaign to end FGM intensifies

Gambia: Major increase in poverty and gender-based violence

 Gambia: Malaria remains a public health burden 

 Activist takes a dim view of Malawi’s human rights 

 CPJ condemns attacks on two newspaper offices in Nigeria

 Minister speaks on ‘great potential’ of intellectual property

African scientists horned on Pneumococcal surveillance

Ex-Liberia President Charles Taylor guilty in 'watershed' war-crimes case

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images, file

A young Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighter poses near Freetown, Sierra Leone, on May 25, 1997. 

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Fatou Bensouda, Next ICC Prosecutor

Growing concern over precarious state of sub-Saharan migrants

A temporary shelter set up by migrants recently expelled from Morocco, PIX: MSF

Growing concerns over the precarious state of migrants in sub-Saharan Africa have been raised once again by the multinational network against violation of migrants’ rights, Justice Without Borders for Migrants/Justice sans frontiers pour les migrants et migrantes (JWBM/JSFM).

This followed recent mass-expulsion of migrants from Mauritania to Senegal and Mali, and from Morocco to Algeria, coupled with recent massive displacement fueled by the Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali.

Working Group On Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants And Displaced Persons

PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO THE NGO FORUM FOR ADOPTION ON THE RIGHTS OF REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS, MIGRANTS AND DISPLACED PERSONS

A temporary shelter set up by migrants recently expelled from Morocco, PIX: MSF

Belhassen laments ‘pitiable’ ratification of African Charter on Democracy…

….Highlight precarious human rights situation in Africa

Ms. Souhayr Belhasse, FIDH President

The President of the International Federation ofHuman Rights, FIDH, Ms. Souhayr Belhassen on Saturday lament the pitiable pace at which governments are ratifying the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

Only 15 countries ratified the Charter which was adopted by the 8^th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2007.

Ms. Belhassen was presenting a paper on an overview of the situation of human rights and democracy in Africa at the opening of the NGOsForum (April 14-16, 2012), preceding the 51^st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, ACHPR in Banjul.

Hannah Foster bemoans Africa’s enormous human rights challenges

Hannah Foster, ACDHRS

The Executive Director of the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, ACDHRS, Mrs. Hannah Foster described the human rights situation in Africa as precarious. 

She said the recent coup in Mali and the continuing unrest perpetrated by the Tuareg rebels, the unrest inflicted by the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria, and the continuing repression of peaceful protests in Tunisia demonstrates a lack of respect for human rights.

Non-governmentalorganisations (NGO) from within and outside Africa converged in Banjul, The Gambia from April 14-16, 2012 to discuss the precarious human rights situation in the continent.

While remembering victims of human rights violations in Africa, Mrs. Foster implored on the Governments to practice what they preach in order to consolidate the gains registered against impunity. 

ACDHRS set stage to discuss human rights in Africa

The Forum on the Participation NGOs in the 51^st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, ACHPR, is slated for April 14-16, 2012 in Banjul.

The ACHPR session will be held from 18 April to 2 May 2012.

The principal objectives of the Forum is to foster closer co-operation among NGOs, and with the African Commission; to provide a discussion platform to democracy and human rights NGOs in Africa; and to promote inter-regional networking for the implementation of decisions of the Forum as contained in the ACHPR Communiqué.

Curbing the inadequate capacity of local institutions

Beneficiaries of good governance project, Sanba Njabeh Village/photo:M.S.Joof/Nov2011

Gambian voters in the Badibou, Jokadou and Lower Niumi districts will not be voting along party, ethnic or religious lines in this year’s National Assembly elections and the 2013 local government elections.

That is, if the success of a “capacity building project on good governance” implemented by a local agency is anything to go by, communities in the three districts would be able to determine which candidate really deserve to be elected to represent their interest in the legislature and in at the local government level.

Decisions by NGOs in Gambia: February 17

NGO WEEK 2012 DECLARATION 11 – 17 February 2012, TANGO

We the members of The Association of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Gambia (TANGO), having conceived the idea of convening the NGO Week in which we brought together all of our members and non-members including other non-state actors to celebrate the successes and contributions of  NGOs to the socio-economic and political development of the Gambia from 11 – 17 February 2012;

Conscious of the role and function of NGOs in the development of the Gambia for which NGOs, as indispensable development institutions with immense technical capacity and resources, have provided much needed development goods and services to individuals, communities, public and private sector organizations and institutions over the past 40 years;

The Observatory denounce 'interminable judicial harassment' of women human rights defenders

Amie Bojang Sissoho and Dr. Isatou Touray (L-

The Observatory, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), on January 9, 2012 denounce what it called the “interminable judicial harassment” faced by two women human rights defenders in The Gambia.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders believes that the criminal case against Dr. Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang-Sissoho merely aims at intimidating them and impeding GAMCOTRAP from carrying out its activities for the promotion and protection of human rights. 

Women-rights: 16 days of activism to eliminate violence against women

United Nations Press release

23 November 2011

In August 2011, men and boys aged 18 to 25 were invited by the UNiTE campaign to use their creativity and imagination to create designs that Say NO to violence against women and girls and embody equality and respect.

The T-shirt design competition reached out to young men throughout the world to help end violence against women and girl. Thirty-four regional and global judges have selected the five top designs, one each from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North Africa. The winning entries will be announced on 23 November 2011 in New York.

Africa going backwards on continent’s biggest child killer

LONDON, United-Kingdom, November 18, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A new report Off-track, off-target, released today by the international charity WaterAid (http://www.wateraid.org),  shows that there are more people in the world today lacking adequate sanitation services than in 1990.  Unless urgent action is taken, nearly all governments in Sub-Saharan African will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) pledge they made to halve the proportion of people without sanitation by 2015.