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 The case of the arrest and killing of Solo Sandeng and the arrest and incarceration of the entire leadership of the United Democratic Party (UDP) are clear cases in point. The Gambia has ratified and domesticated the two ILO Conventions of the CO87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention 1948 and CO98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention 1949 during the period under review. ARTICLE 11: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The Constitution guarantees the right to assembly and protest. Section 25(1) (d) of the Constitution provides that: “Every person shall have the right to assemble and demonstrate peaceably without arms” However, Section 25 (4) of the Constitution provides that this right may be restricted for the purpose of protecting public morality, national security and this restriction must be necessary in a democratic society. Section 25(4) states that “the freedoms referred to in subsections (1) and (2) shall be exercised subject to the law of The Gambia in so far as that law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the rights and freedoms thereby conferred, which are necessary in a democratic society and are required in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of The Gambia, national security, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court”. For most parts of the reporting period, the Public Order Act (POA) was used to curtail this freedom. Acting under the guise of this Act, in April 2000 the Security Forces heavily cracked down on a student protest leading to the death of 16 students and a journalist. Similarly, in April 2016, when the youth leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Ebrima Solo Sandeng was arrested and killed while protesting for electoral reforms and the entire leadership of the UDP5 was subsequently imprisonment for unlawful assembly when they marched to demand the body of Solo Sandeng. In 2016 the constitutionality of the Public Order Act was challenged where a declaration was sought from the Supreme Court for a declaration that the requirement of a license for any public procession under 5 They were Kemesseng Jammeh, Femi Peter’s, Lamn Debba,Lamin Jatta, Babucarr Camara, Fakebba Cessay, Ismaila Ceesay, Momodou Fatty, Dodou Ceesay, Samba Kinteh, Mamudu Manneh, Nfamara Kuyateh, Fanta Darboe, Lamin Njie, Juguna Suso, Momodou L.K. Sanneh Yaya Jammeh and Massaneh Lalo Jawla 55