Thank you for Update Dr. Jallow, Gambians are both anxious and Hopeful with the TRRC under your purview. Please make US Proud.
Best
Edrissa.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, May 21, 2018 09:33 PM
Subject: TRRC Update: Towards Never Again



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<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">TRRC Update: Towards Never Again<span></span></p><p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By Baba Galleh Jallow</p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Setting up truth commissions are slow and tedious processes.
This is true of both countries – like Canada and Australia for instance - where
funds are readily available for the purpose, and countries like The Gambia
where funds are not readily available for the purpose. In any case, we are
happy to announce that the funds for the selection of TRRC commissioners and
the hiring of the initial staff of the TRRC Secretariat have now been secured. Because
of the Ramadan, the regional nomination and selection of commissioners is
slated to begin during the week of June 18<sup>th</sup>, immediately after the
eid. Meanwhile, the terms of reference for the initial secretariat staff are
being finalized and will be published in the media within the next few weeks.
These initial hirings are for the Head of the Outreach, Communication and Media
Unit, Head of the Research and Investigations Unit, Research Officers,
Investigation Officers, and Statement Takers. <span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Once the nomination and selection of commissioners is
complete, hopefully within two weeks of June 18, the president shall then
appoint the 11 members of the commission after consultations with the Ministry
of Justice, regional governors and a number of civil society organizations as
provided for in the TRRC Act. The list of appointed commissioners will then be
publicized and the general public invited to express their views and opinions on
the composition of the commission and on individual members of the commission.
This process will be followed by a short retreat and training on transitional
justice for the commissioners. In the meantime, statement takers, investigators
and researchers will be trained and start working with victims and others
wanting to testify in readiness for their appearance before the commission. It
is anticipated that actual commission hearings will begin in late July or August.
The TRRC is mandated to work for two years, with the possibility of extension. <span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The TRRC Act outlines the main objectives of the TRRC as to “create
an impartial historical record of violations and abuses of human rights from
July 1994 to January 2017, in order to . . . promote healing and reconciliation
. . . respond to the needs of victims . . . provide victims an opportunity to
relate their own accounts of the violations and abuses suffered . . . establish
and make known the fate or whereabouts of disappeared victims . . . grant
reparations to victims in appropriate cases . . . address impunity, and . .
.prevent a repetition of the violations and abuses suffered by making
recommendations for the establishment of appropriate preventive mechanisms including
institutional and legal reforms.”<span>   </span><span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At the end of its mandate, the TRRC will issue a final
report containing its findings and including recommendations designed to help
prevent a recurrence of dictatorship and gross human rights violations in The
Gambia. Section 14 (4b) of the TRRC Act provides that “after the end of its
mandate, the commission<span>  </span>shall “prepare a
comprehensive report which sets out its activities and findings based on
factual and objective information and evidence collected, received by it or
placed at its disposal; and make recommendations to the President with regard
to the creation of institutions conducive to the development of a stable and
democratic society as well as the institutional, administrative and legislative
measures which should be taken in order to prevent the commission of violations
and abuses of human rights.” In essence then, the overriding mandate of the
TRRC is to ensure justice for victims and promote national healing but also to
prevent a recurrence of dictatorship and gross human rights violations in The
Gambia, #NeverAgain.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The question Gambians and the TRRC must address is how can
we make sure that dictatorship and gross violations of human rights never
happen in this country again? Do we wait for and hope that the recommendations
contained in the TRRC report will prevent dictatorship and human rights
violations in this country? Or do we start that work now? We must address these
questions because while Never Again has been a key mandate of a majority of the
40 truth commissions that have existed around the world since 1974, most truth
commissions have not conclusively helped guarantee non-recurrence of
dictatorship or gross human rights violations in their countries. Most
societies that have had transitional justice and truth commission processes
have not experienced the kind of socio-political and cultural transformation
that can prevent a recurrence of dictatorship or widespread human rights
violations. Some transitional justice experts attribute this relative lack of
truth commission success to a lack of inclusivity in truth commission
processes. In many cases, the general public is more of an audience than an
active participant in truth commission processes. <span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We have by departed from this tradition of public exclusion
and embraced inclusion by actively reaching out and seeking the participation
of all Gambians in the TRRC process. In 2017, the Ministry of Justice in collaboration
with key stakeholders in this country carried out a nationwide consultation
process at which Gambians were invited and encouraged to express their opinions
on the TRRC process. Opinions and ideas shared at these national consultations
informed the establishment by the Ministry of Justice of a technical committee
of governmental and non-governmental institutions to actively work together on
shaping the TRRC. This technical committee held regular consultative and
brainstorming sessions at the Ministry of Justice and contributed to the
conceptualization and formulation of the TRRC Act and the guidelines for the
selection of commissioners which were widely publicized in the media. The
committee continues to be actively involved in the production of a Strategic
Plan for the National Transitional Justice Program.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Learning from the lessons of history and in fulfilment of
our functions under Section 23 (1c & e) of the TRRC Act, the TRRC
Secretariat has initiated a “Never Again Campaign” aimed at engaging Gambian
civil society and Gambian communities across the country on an ongoing national
conversation on the structural and cultural causes of dictatorship, with a view
to helping transform Gambia’s political culture and making it hard for gross
human rights violations and impossible for dictatorship to prevail in The
Gambia again. We have reached out and will continue reaching out to civil
society organizations, religious communities, women’s groups, school children,
and other communities across the country to sensitize them on the nature and
work of the TRRC and to encourage their active participation in the Never Again
campaign against dictatorship and human rights violations. <span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As we have seen in recent social media postings, school children
are set to be important participants in our national conversation on Never Again.
As custodians of our country’s future, children are fundamentally crucial to
the prevention of future dictatorship and human rights violations in this
country. A Children’s Network on Transitional Justice has been created in
schools across the country and there is a high level of interest and enthusiasm
for the TRRC process and the Never Again campaign among the students we have
encountered so far. We will continue sensitizing students across the country
and encouraging their active participation in the TRRC and wider transitional
justice process. <span> </span><span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We are extending our outreach and engagement with students to
the Gambia College and the University of The Gambia. We have already expressed
to the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences our interest in meeting and
having a conversation with their student community. We will be reaching out to
the deans of other UTG schools as well as GTTI, MDI and others in the near
future. Meanwhile on Wednesday May 2, we had a meeting with student members of
the Law Clinic at the UTG Law School. Again, the idea was to explain the TRRC
process and see how best they could become active participants in the Never
Again campaign. We are in the process of finalizing a memorandum of
understanding between the TRRC and the Law Clinic that will outline our
strategies for engagement, most notably, how law students can visit schools and
communities to enlighten students and the wider community on their
constitutional rights and responsibilities. In this regard, we will be reaching
out to the National Council on Civic Education to seek their collaboration and
support in this process and ongoing partnership with the TRRC.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We are also reaching out to religious leaders and
communities of all denominations across the country. So far with the support of
Pastor Forbes of Abiding Word Ministries, we had a very fruitful interface with
the Evangelical Fellowship of The Gambia on April 29, 2018. The idea was to explain
the TRRC process and see how best the Evangelical community can support our work,
especially national healing and the Never Again campaign. We are happy to
report that the EFG has declared its wholehearted support and willingness to
partner with the TRRC in our engagement with the Gambian public. We will be
following up with other engagements with the EFG. Meanwhile, we are reaching
out and will engage other Christian denominations as well as Muslim communities
to see how best justice, reconciliation, national healing and Never Again can
be promoted through the use of religious teachings and arguments.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We continue to work very closely with The Association of
Nongovernmental Organizations (TANGO) with a view to collaborating with their
network of civil society organizations on promoting the Never Again campaign.
On May 15, 2018 we had a fruitful dialogue with some member organizations of
TANGO at which we explained the TRRC process, familiarized them with the
rationale for the Never Again campaign and jointly came out with resolutions
that will ensure our engagement with them in moving this process forward. One
of the key objectives is to continue working closely with TANGO in their “The
Gambia We Want” campaign throughout the mandate period of the TRRC.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As part of this update, we are happy to point out that the
international community both inside and outside The Gambia is expressing a rich
fund of goodwill for The Gambia and our transitional justice process. Over the
past few months, we have been invited to meet the ambassadors of France,
Britain and the EU Delegation to The Gambia. The US ambassador has said her
doors are always open to us. We also met with the visiting Deputy Prime
Minister of Belgium and most recently, two officials of the U.S. State
Department. All these members of the international community have expressed genuine
admiration for the manner in which Gambians managed the impasse and a
willingness to support the TRRC and wider transitional justice process. We are
receiving technical support and working very closely with the International
Center for Transitional Justice who have a resident representative in the
country, the Institute for Integrated Transitions who facilitated a workshop on
truth commissions for us in Barcelona back in March and continues to support
our work through their Brain Trust in The Gambia, and International IDEA with
whom we are set to collaborate on our outreach activities with civil society. <span> </span>Human Rights Watch is working closely with the
Victims’ Center and many other international organizations including Justice
Rapid Response, the International Committee of the Red Cross and TRIAL
International have reached out to express their willingness to support The
Gambia’s transitional justice process and the work of the TRRC in particular.<span></span></p>

<p class="aolmail_MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Finally for this update, we want to call upon the Gambia
Government to consider increasing its budgetary allocation for the TRRC in the
next budget. The ideal scenario would have been for the government to take over
total funding for the TRRC. Where this proves difficult, the government should
consider significantly increasing its financial investment in the process so
that the TRRC can fulfill its mandate with distinction. Suffice it to say that the
success of the TRRC will be a defining legacy of the Barrow administration. And
we ARE going to succeed.<span></span></p>








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