By Louise S A Alsan @AlsanLouise
Gambian women from rural Gambia have raised concerns that they were forced into labour (farming work) without any payment under the direction of former President Yahya Jammeh. According to Binta, a female leader from rural Gambia, the practice of forced labour has impacted the health of women in her community adversely. Binta’s real name and location in rural Gambia have been withheld to protect her identity and the possibility of further re-victimization.
Spearheading the complaints of women in her region is Binta, the head of a local Female Association in rural Gambia [location withheld]. In an exclusive interview with Gainako she explained that during the reign of former President Yahya Jammeh, her local female association was always included in activities at the former President’s home village of Kanilai.
Binta says women from her community were forced into farming out of fear for the former President Jammeh who was always surrounded by Security Officers. Speaking about the fear of not answering President Jammeh’s call to farming Binta says that “failure to grace these [farming] events could lead to the head of the association losing her position so we go to Kanilai, work for the president against our will.” In addition to Binta’s concerns, it was common practice for Government Officials to work on the farm as a show of loyalty to then-President Yahya Jammeh.
Not only were women and men forced into labour, but Binta also explains how they abandoned their farms to work at Kanilai Farms owned by former President Jammeh. “By the time we return to our own farms the raining season would be midway and you cannot work effectively because of exhaustion,” she said.
Effects of the Forced Labour & Demand for Justice
Speaking about the negative health impact inflicted on her and other women Binta lamented that the work is still taking a toll on their health and they are still suffering from frequent pain. Another woman from the same area also echoed similar concerns raised by Binta. In her view, a significant number of women in her region and elsewhere in the Gambia have suffered the same fate.
“I was never informed that I will be receiving anything in return for labour so I was not paid, now we want justice for the exploitation Jammeh put us through and we’re urging all the women affected to come out and speak out about the forced labour that Yahya Jammeh subjected us to,” said Binta.
Binta concluded that the NEVER AGAIN slogan by the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) needs their effort to avert its reoccurrence. The Truth Commission was established after an Act of the National Assembly was passed in 2017 mandating the Commission to investigate human rights violations of former President Yahya Jammeh’s regime. During the hearings very little was heard from victims of enforced labour. At least such victims deserve acknowledgement and reparations to address the negative health impact of such violations. Chances are if victims stay silent over the atrocities inflicted on them during the former regime, they may not get the justice or reparations they deserve and the human rights violations may continue.
Reparations Process for Victims and the General Public
Gainako asked Binta if she and other women in her group had appeared before the TRRC. In response, she explained that a written statement was submitted instead.
Binta added that as the leader of the local women’s group she represented all the women in her region by submitting a written statement which she read out to the Commission. She explained how she struggled to read her written statement to the Commission as she experienced flashbacks of violations she had experienced. Her submission was not done during the TRRC hearings.
According to the International Center for Transitional Justice’s (ICTJ) report on Women’s Experiences of Dictatorship in the Gambia, “Chapter 4 (20) of the Gambian Constitution [1997] stipulates that no person shall be required to perform forced labour”, though the Gambia’s criminal code does not include a provision criminalizing forced labour.
The report further recommends the TRRC to “provide women who were victims of forced labour and land confiscation with farming equipment to help reduce their workload and a provision on forced labour should be included in the criminal code to ensure that the Gambian people, especially women, are not subjected to forced labour”.
This article is supported by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).