Is Gambia Any Closer to Reparations For Rights Abuses?

Since the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), a 3-year fact-finding body that looked into the human rights violations and abuses committed under former president Yahya Jammeh's regime (1994-2017), released its recommendations in November 2021.There has been lingering hopes for its implementation. Less than a year later, the Gambian government issued its White Paper, accepting most of the commission's recommendations.

JusticeInfo.net. Mariam Sankanu writes that Yahya Jammeh still enjoys popularity in the small West African country and it is expected that the implementation of the TRRC recommendations would be met with resistance.

On May 12, 2023 Gambia's President Adama Barrow announced a ê'9-million pledge by the European Union. The plan stalled but some hoped Gambia's transitional justice process could get back on track.

The government said it lacked the financial resources to implement the recommendations, even though some require very little or no funds - for example, persons recommended to be banned from public office have only been sent on administrative leave; institutional reforms are yet to be done; the Victims Reparations Bill which was submitted to cabinet earlier in 2023, is yet to be approved.