Gambian Civil Society Groups elevated their campaign against the Jammeh regime when they requested and were granted audience at the European Union meeting held in Brussels October 27th, 2013. The group in collaboration with other Human Rights Campaign agencies made a special case to the EU MPs to adopt tougher measures against the Jammeh regime for its total disregards for Human Rights of Gambians. In a strongly worded statement representatives made a case for action against the regime in Banjul. Below is the statement presented at the European Union meeting in Brussels:
CALL FOR THE ADOPTION OF TOUGHER MEASURES BY THE EUROPEAN UNION TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE GAMBIA
The Coalition for Change (CCG), Civil Society Associations Gambia (CSAG), the Campaign for Human Rights in the Gambia (CHRG) and the Campaign for Democratic Change in the Gambia (CDCG) wish to express to you our profound gratitude for granting us an audience despite your very busy schedules. We are truly thankful for the immense contributions the European Union is making to the many facets of development in the Gambia as well as towards the protection and promotion of democracy and human rights in the country.
The main purpose of this visit is to once again shed some light on the deplorable and repugnant human rights situation in The Gambia and to urge the European Union, and indeed the international community, to adopt tough measures against the regime led by Yahya Jammeh. In view of the Gambia Government’s continued intransigience through its violations of both national laws and international obligations, we believe urgent action is required to prevent the country from slipping into the abyss of another failed State.
CCG, CSAG, CHRG, CDCG and other partners are in favor of the adoption of tough measures against Yahya Jammeh and his associates and closest family members. In particular, we are calling upon the European Union to impose targeted sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes as means to exert greater pressure on the Gambian regime.
BACKGROUND
Banjul is the seat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, yet the Gambia Government repeatedly disregarded the Commission’s resolutions. President Jammeh also claimed to have a cure for AIDS and virtually every major affliction known to mankind. He has since put many lives in peril by getting patients off established treatment programs in exchange for his concoction of bananas and dirty water.
In November 2011, the West African regional grouping ECOWAS withdrew its election monitors indicating that the playing field was not level and that a climate of fear and intimidation had prevailed. Bruised, Jammeh resorted to hauling personal attacks against the organization’s executive director. Last June, an Early Day Motion calling on the British Government to take decisive actions against dictatorial rule in The Gambia was
met by a tirade of anti-Western pronouncements from Jammeh.
And following a threat to execute all 48 prisoners on the country’s death-row in August 2012, Jammeh executed nine inmates in one day reportedly by firing squad without due process and under mysterious circumstances. Despite a sustained international outcry following the incident, he seemed to weather the storm to the chagrin of human rights activists.
Much of his disdain and anger is nonetheless reserved for the media fraternity. Even though the public media report his every sneeze and cough, independent media have been restricted largely to sports and music programming. The consequences of even mild criticism of the dictator have been quite severe, with assassinations, imprisonment, detention, torture, disappearances, and hefty fines being common.
INCREASED REPRESSION
The dictatorship now appears to be cracking in the face of pressure from the European Union, the Commonwealth, ECOWAS, and some of the country’s donors. Jammeh accused the EU of attempting to destabilize his regime in January when the group called for reforms based on a 17-point agenda. He lashed out, linking the matter to a so-called sinister campaign by the West to promote homosexuality in the Gambia.
Recently, the government passed a litany of regressive media laws including an amendment to the Information and Communication Act in June 2013. This law imposes fines of up to US$90,000 and/or jail terms of up to 15 years for making derogatory statements against the government or public officials.
In view of his regime’s deplorable human rights record and a sustained campaign by dissidents to isolate the Gambia diplomatically, Jammeh expected at least humiliation at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting slated for November in Sri Lanka. Pulling out at the last minute, as he did, was a pre-emptive move on his part, learning a thing or two from Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe who took similar action a decade earlier. The Gambian Presidency announced the withdrawal in a brief statement, referring to the “British” Commonwealth as a “neocolonial institution.” The country had been a member of the group since 1965, when it attained independence from British rule.
A concern about “neocolonial” domination was far from the truth. Jammeh took the decision in the wake of his disastrous trip to the United Nations’ General Assembly meeting in New York late last September. Just when public attention focused on his ill-advised speech, he pulled out a trick to deflect criticisms for his obsession with sexual orientation at the expense of the Gambia’s real problems – poverty, repressive rule, and corruption.
To make matters worse, President Jammeh is apparently flaming the fans of ethnic hatred by singling out the Mandingo as being unpatriotic, disloyal, and engaged in tarnishing the country’s image in cahoots with the United States and the United Kingdom. The opposition has so far not taken Jammeh’s bait, as his tirade has contributed significantly toward unifying virtually all key party and civil society leaders for the first time. How long this new found unity in the face of Jammeh’s use of ethnic-based hate speech remains to be seen.
CONCLUSION
With a record like Jammeh’s, one wonders how the international community has looked away for so long as repressive rule deepens in the Gambia. Perhaps, this time around, Yahya Jammeh’s outburst at the UNGA, his litany of hate-based tantrums, and his unceremonious withdrawal of the Gambia from the Commonwealth will give the country the attention it deserves.
The time is now for the European Union to show President Jammeh and his government some muscle to salvage the Gambian people from an increasingly ruthless despot. Targeted sanctions would have virtually no direct impact on the population, yet it would carry a great deal of symbolic significance for the Gambian population. It would further demonstrate that the European Union is indeed with the Gambian people and that it is willing to finally take necessary measures to end despotism in the Gambia. This type of morale booster may be the type of game-changer we have all been anticipating.
-End-
REPRESENTATIVES
Dr. Amadou S Janneh, Coordinator, Coalition for Change – The Gambia (CCG)
Banka Manneh, Chairperson, Civil Society Associations Gambia (CSAG)
Alieu Badara Ceesay, Secretary-General, Campaign for Human Rights in the Gambia (CHRG)
James Bahoum, Executive Member, Campaign for Democratic Change in the Gambia (CDCG)
October 27, 2013 – Brussels, Belgium