THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA’S COMBINED REPORT ON THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN & PEOPLES’ RIGHTS & INITIAL REPORT ON THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Addressing past human rights violations As soon as the current Government took office in January 2017, a Missing Persons Taskforce was constituted to receive and document reports of missing and disappeared persons. Furthermore, an investigation was launched into the brutal crackdown of a peaceful opposition protest march in April 2016, which led to the death in custody, of opposition Activist, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, resulting in the ongoing prosecution of nine former senior officials of the NIA for the death of Ebrima Solo Sandeng and the torture of other opposition members. The Gambia Armed Forces and the Police have also constituted a joint investigations taskforce to investigate the activities of the former hit squad known as the ‘Junglers’. Further to the above, taking into consideration the serious human rights violations that occurred during the Jammeh regime, as part of the transitional justice measures, the Government has established a Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission to investigate human rights violations and abuses committed during the past 22 years of former President Jammeh’s authoritarian rule, to foster social cohesion and encourage national reconciliation among Gambians, to address impunity and also to recognize the rights and dignity of victims through the provision of appropriate Reparations. The Commission is mandated to investigate enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings with the view to establishing the truth on what happened and provide reparations to victims. In upholding the right to life, on the 18th June 2018 following a protest over sand mining in the village of Faraba Bantang which led to the death of three protestors, the Government set up a Commission of Inquiry to establish the circumstances leading to their death. The Commission commenced its sittings in July and it is expected to issue its report and recommendations within two months. Infant and maternal mortality To address the relatively high rates of infant and maternal mortality, the Government has made maternal and antenatal health care free in all Government health centres. Primary and secondary health care has also significantly expanded, and increased immunization has reduced mortality rates. Great achievements have been registered in access to basic health care however Primary Health care has deteriorated substantially. The formula below represents the mortality and causes of death data and the denominator is the total live births from the 2015 Mid-year population estimates. 28