Some of the individuals no longer residing in the Gambia

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 13.443182

Longitude: -15.310139

From Region

UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report

Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions reported that their joint visit to the Gambia early in November 2014

Engagement with UN body

Type of attempted engagement

Meeting with UN officials during country visit / with locally present UN officials

Reprisal information: some of the individuals no longer residing in the Gambia were after the visit being pursued by the authorities. Even though it was difficult to verify this information, the Special Rapporteur on torture received information concerning one such case that he considered credible

Types of reprisals suffered

Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?: No

Government response content: Despite assurances received from the Government that none of the individuals cooperating with the mandate holders would be threatened, harassed or punished;

With regard to the report of the Special Rapporteur on summary or arbitrary executions, the Government expressed its dismay at the “biased manner” in which the report had been presented, stating that the allegations that it contained were unsubstantiated and lacked merit (A/HRC/29/37/Add.6, para. 1)

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?: No

Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?: No

Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?: No