The Media Foundation for West Africa
(MFWA) has named the President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, ‘West Africa’s King
of Impunity.’ The MFWA bestows this title upon President Jammeh as a result of
his 20-year-long rule of fear, characterized by gross human rights violations,
disregard for the rule of law and on-going impunity for egregious rights
violations in The Gambia.
This crowning marks the climax of the
MFWA’s campaign to end impunity in The Gambia, which began on the first
anniversary of the United Nations International Day to End Impunity for Crimes
against Journalists, observed on November 2.
President Jammeh is a man of many
titles, and he is officially addressed as His Excellency Sheikh Professor
Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh Babili Mansa. But none of his
self-conferred titles reflect his status as the greatest violator of human
rights and perpetrator of impunity in West Africa.
“In the past six years, the ECOWAS
Community Court of Justice issued three judgments against The Gambia for its
failure to exercise due diligence in investigating allegations of torture,
enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings,” said Sulemana Braimah,
Executive Director of the MFWA. “The Jammeh government has flagrantly ignored
the judgments of the Court and has blatantly refused to compensate victims as
directed by the Court.”
The Gambia is a State Party to several
human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
It has
also signed the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment. While The Gambia is not bound by the
Convention against Torture, it must refrain from committing acts that would
defeat the object and purpose of this treaty.
In spite of these human rights
commitments, systematic human rights violations and impunity for human rights
violations have been the hallmark of the last two decades in The Gambia under
President Jammeh.
The most recent decision of the ECOWAS
Court, issued in June, found that the Jammeh government’s actions in
perpetrating abuses and its inaction in providing effective remedies has
resulted in the culture of impunity in The Gambia today.
The MFWA calls on governments in West
Africa, the ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations to help combat
this enormous problem and pressure the Jammeh government to adhere to the rule
of law and fulfil its regional and international human rights treaty
obligations.
Source:
http://www.mfwa.org
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