Statement of Gambia, October, 2016

“Particular attention is paid to the gender aspect of transitional justice, which is one of the priorities of the Gambia’s policy in the area of human rights and humanitarian activities. Central to these efforts are the women’s amendment of 2012, the national agenda on women’s empowerment policy 2010-2020, the children’s act, the trafficking act, the refugee act and, most recently, the domestic violence and sexual offence acts of 2013. All these procedures are indeed very innovative in that they consistently take women’s rights into consideration. This can be seen, for example, in the definition of so-called gender crimes, the rights of women in court procedures, in the representation of the two sexes in the court’s various bodies and in the organization of the court with regard to the protection of victims and witnesses. Additional forms are to be provided for projects that support the inclusion of women in political and legal transitional processes, with a view to ending impunity in cases involving crimes against women. This is intended to facilitate implementation of the corresponding procedures and evidentiary rules contained in the statutes.