GABON for unskilled labor is sufficient to provide a decent living for workers and their families. Work over 40 hours per week must be compensated with overtime, and the workweek must include a minimum rest period of 48 consecutive hours. The Labor Code provides for occupational health and safety standards to be established by decree of the Minister of Health. Adherence to these standards, which are generally adapted from the French model, varies greatly and usually reflects company policy rather than governmental enforcement efforts. Article 134 of the Labor Code assigns enforcement of its health and safety provisions to the Office of the Inspector of Labor (Inspecteur du Travail) of the Ministry of Labor. THE GAMBIA The Gambia is a parliamentary democracy with an elected president and legislature. Except for a coup attempt in 1981, The Gambia has had a history of political stability under the leadership of its only President since independence in 1965, Sir Dawda Jawara. His ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP) has dominated the unicameral Parliament, but several opposition parties participate in the political process, including two parties formed in 1986. The Gambia has a small army with an attached naval unit organized and trained by British officers. Its gendarmerie forces, formerly headed by Senegalese officers, are now under the control of, and responsive to, Gambian civilian leadership. The Gambia's estimated population of 784,000 consists largely of subsistence farmers growing rice and groundnuts (peanuts), the country's primary export crop. In 1991 The Gambia continued its stringent economic reform program in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The Gambia has made particular efforts to promote observance of human rights, which are constitutionally protected and generally observed in practice. In 1991 the death of a person in police custody led to a swift investigation, arrests, and trials of police officials. RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing There were no reported political killings. However, on August 2, a longtime Senegalese resident in The Gambia, Momodou Jarjue, was detained on suspicion of theft by three Criminal Investigation Division (CID) officers of the Gambian police. According to witnesses, the CID officers beat Jarjue continuously through the night and denied him food, water, and medical attention. Jarjue died the next morning. The police immediately began an investigation, personally directed by the Minister of the Interior and the new Inspector General of Police, and the three CID officers were detained by the Gambian gendarmerie. In addition officials of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies conducted an independent investigation of the incident and filed their report with the Attorney General's office. Late in August the police completed their investigation, and subsequently the Attorney General announced that the three CID officers would be arraigned before the Supreme Court and charged with murder and assault. The trial began on October 1 and was continuing at year's end, with the press providing full coverage of the proceedings. b. Disappearance There were no reports of disappearance. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading The Constitution prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. Except for the Jarjue case (Section THE GAMBIA 1.a.), there were no known instances of torture or mistreatment of detainees in 1991. Prison conditions are severe, and in the past there have been occasional reports of mistreatment of prisoners. After the death of several inmates in 1988 due to inadequate diet, a presidential commission on prison conditions investigated the Occurrence and its recommendations led to prison reforms. There have been no further reports of such incidents since the reforms. The Government allows prison visits by local Red Cross representatives and by close family members. d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile Based on British legal practice, well-developed constitutional and legal procedures govern the arrest, detention, and trial of persons accused of crimes. Under these procedures, a detained person must be brought to trial within 1 week of arrest. This waiting period, however, may be extended twice, making 21 days the maximum period of detention before trial. In fact, due to overcrowded court schedules, the detention period can be much longer. There were no political detainees being held at the end of 1991. There are some self-exiled opposition elements who would be arrested for suspected involvement in the 1981 coup attempt if they returned to The Gambia, e.g., the alleged leader of the plot, Kukoi Samba Sanyang. In February President Jawara amnestied the last 35 people imprisoned for criminal convictions relating to the 1981 coup attempt. Two of the recipients had been convicted of high treason and condemned to death. e. Denial of Fair Public Trial There are three kinds of law in The Gambia: general, Shari'a (Islamic), and customary law. Shari'a law, governing Muslims, is observed in marriage and divorce proceedings. Customary law covers marriage and divorce for non-Muslims, inheritance, land tenure and utilization, local tribal government, and all other traditional civil and social relations. General law, based on English statutes and modified to suit the Gambian context, governs criminal cases and trials and most organized business practices. If there were a conflict between general law and Shari'a, general law would prevail. The Constitution provides criminal defendants with the traditional rights of the English legal system, such as presumption of innocence, the right of the accused to be informed promptly of the charges, and the right to a public trial. If released on bail, an accused person may face charges indefinitely, since there is no maximum time limit for completing the investigation and bringing the case to trial. Appeals normally proceed from the Supreme (trial) Court to the Court of Appeals, the country's highest tribunal. Judges are appointed by the Government, but the judiciary operates independently and is free of government interference. Because of the shortage of legal professionals in The Gambia, the legal system is staffed in part by judges and prosecuting and defense attorneys from other English-speaking countries having the same basic legal system as The Gambia. THE GAMBIA In 1988 a journalist, Sana Manneh, accused four cabinet ministers of corruption, for which he was subsequently tried in Magistrate's Court on charges of libeling three of them. In that trial he was acquitted on two counts and convicted of the third. The Government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned the acquittals. Manneh then appealed to the Court of Appeal (The Gambia's highest court), which, based on a technicality, reversed the Supreme Court's ruling on December 5. The prosecution failed to give oral notice of its intent to appeal after the announcement of the Magistrate Court's judgment, as prescribed by Gambian law. f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence It The Constitution provides guarantees, which are respected in practice, against arbitrary search of person and property. does permit a search to which a suspect submits voluntarily or if it is reasonably required in the interest of national defense or public welfare. Under the Gambian criminal code, search warrants based on probable cause are issued by magistrates upon application by the police. The code also specifies that police may conduct a search of a private residence while a crime is in progress. There are a few checkpoints in the country where the police and military periodically stop and search drivers and vehicles. The rights of family are of great importance in The Gambia's conservative Muslim society. Marriage, the raising of children, and religious instruction are regulated by a combination of personal preference and ethnic and religious tradition. The Government does not normally intrude in family matters. There is no effort to censor or control personal correspondence or communications. Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: a. Freedom of Speech and Press The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and press. While opposition parties have been relatively inactive since the 1987 elections, members freely express their opinions about the Government and ruling party. In The Government does not attempt to censor published materials, whether they originate within or outside the country. practical terms, The Gambia, with its small, mainly rural, largely illiterate, multilingual population, does not support an active press, though this is slowly changing. The Government and the PPP have newspapers which are published on a biweekly or monthly basis. There are several independent, intermittently published, mimeographed newssheets and, more recently, one monthly newsmagazine. Both the opposition and the independent press are openly critical of the Government. There is, however, some degree of self-censorship in the government-owned media, which exercises restraint in reporting criticism of the Government. During the Manneh libel trial, Radio Gambia and the official press ceased coverage after the first week of the trial. There is no television in The Gambia, although Senegalese broadcasts can be received. The Government dominates the media through Radio Gambia. Two commercial radio stations, one of which opened in 1991, primarily broadcast music. Foreign THE GAMBIA magazines and newspapers are available in The capital. There is no university in The Gambia. During 1991, Parliament passed the National Press Council Act, which establishes a council to oversee the activities of journalists. The Act originated in response to journalists' requests for legislation governing press affairs. The council will be required to prepare a code of conduct and will have the power to judge journalists with respect to breaches of this code, reprimand them if the council rules against them, and impose fines. While the President assented to the bill on June 27, it has not been published; therefore it is not yet law. b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association In general, there is no interference with the freedom of assembly and association which is provided for in the Constitution. The Government almost always grants permits for peaceful assembly but requires that these meetings be open to the public. Permits for assembly are issued by the police and are not denied for political reasons. The permits regulate times, places, use of loudspeakers, and the authority to block traffic for a parade. The only banned organization in the Gambia is the Movement for Justice in Africa, which was suspected of involvement in the 1981 coup attempt. The law has been amended so that any future bans would be by judicial decision rather than a presidential decree. The State must now apply to a court for a banning order, citing specific grounds for the request. There were no requests to ban any organization in 1991. c. Freedom of Religion The constitutional provisions of freedom of conscience, thought, and religion are observed in practice. The State is secular, although Muslims constitute over 90 percent of the population. The schools provide instruction in the Koran for Muslim students. Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, freely practice their religion. There is a small Baha'i community in Banjul. Missionaries are permitted to carry on openly and freely their various mission-related activities. d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation The Constitution provides for freedom of movement, subject to conditions protecting public safety, health, and morals. There is no restriction on freedom of emigration or freedom of return. Because of historic and ethnic ties with the inhabitants of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Mauritania, people tend to move freely across borders, which are poorly marked and difficult to police. It The The population of Liberian refugees registered in The Gambia increased by almost 150 percent from 1990 to 1991. At the end of 1991, approximately 180 Liberians living in The Gambia were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). An even larger number are unregistered. UNHCR does not have an assistance program in The Gambia. has transported interested Liberians unable to receive help through family or friends to countries where UNHCR relief programs are ongoing. Since the settlement of the Casamance insurgency in southern Senegal, many of the Casamancais refugees who had settled in The Gambia to escape the turmoil have begun to return home. While there were a reported 326 |