Background

At the invitation of the Government of The Gambia, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, will conduct an official country visit from 5 to 16 October 2026.

Country visits are undertaken in a spirit of cooperation and constructive dialogue. The visit will enable the Special Rapporteur to assess issues within his mandate, recognize progress and good practices, and identify remaining needs and challenges. He will formulate practical recommendations to the Government and, where relevant, the international community, and identify opportunities for technical advice and assistance.

The visit will take stock of the significant progress made by The Gambia since the mandate’s previous visit in 2014, particularly through reforms undertaken following the democratic transition. It will examine implementation of relevant recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) as part of a broader assessment of the protection of the right to life, including current concerns as well as remaining needs and challenges. A victim and family-centred, gender-sensitive approach will be applied throughout. The visit will focus on four interrelated areas:

1. Accountability for past violations, missing and disappeared persons, and the rights of families: Assessing progress in investigating potentially unlawful deaths, including those associated with enforced disappearances, prosecuting those responsible and operationalizing relevant accountability mechanisms. Particular attention will be given to clarifying the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons; protecting suspected burial sites; recovering, identifying and returning human remains in accordance with international standards and families’ wishes; protecting victims and witnesses; and ensuring effective reparations and families’ rights to truth, information, participation and justice.
2. Current protection of the right to life and guarantees of non-recurrence: Assessing safeguards to prevent and investigate potentially unlawful deaths, including deaths in custody, deaths arising in connection with law-enforcement operations, and gender-related killings of women and girls. Where relevant, the visit will also address deaths and disappearances at sea in the context of migration. Attention will be given to civilian oversight, human rights vetting, complaints and disciplinary mechanisms, rules and training governing the use of force, the policing of assemblies and electoral activities, effective remedies and reliable disaggregated data.
3. Investigative, forensic and medico-legal capacities: Assessing the legal, institutional and operational framework for investigating potentially unlawful deaths, including the independence, impartiality, capacity and coordination of investigators, prosecutors, coroners, medical practitioners and forensic services. This will cover crime-scene and mortuary procedures, autopsies, forensic pathology and anthropology, DNA analysis, the recovery and identification of human remains, chain of custody, death certification and preservation of evidence, in accordance with the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016).
4. Abolition of the death penalty: Supporting national efforts to achieve complete abolition in law, building on the absence of executions since 2012, the official moratorium announced in 2018 and The Gambia’s ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The visit will be centred in Banjul and the Greater Banjul Area and may include relevant field visits. The Special Rapporteur will meet government officials, members of the judiciary, independent institutions, representatives of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, United Nations entities, civil society organizations and diplomatic partners, as well as lawyers, academics, medico-legal and forensic professionals, survivors and victims’ families.

At the conclusion of the visit, the Special Rapporteur will brief the Government on his preliminary findings and hold a press conference.

The report on the visit will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its 64th session in June 2027.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

In preparation for his visit, the Special Rapporteur invites submissions from national and international human rights organizations, victims' and survivors' groups, experts, academics, professional associations and institutions, and other interested stakeholders and individuals. He would be grateful to receive information relevant to his mandate, including on any of the following issues:

1. What progress has been made, and what challenges and needs remain, in implementing relevant TRRC recommendations and ensuring accountability for past violations of the right to life?
2. What measures have been taken to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing and disappeared persons and to uphold the rights of their families, and what challenges remain?
3. How effectively does the current legal and institutional framework protect the right to life and guarantee non-recurrence, and what challenges, good practices and positive developments can be identified?
4. How are potentially unlawful deaths investigated in practice, and what strengths, gaps and needs exist in investigative, forensic and medico-legal procedures and capacities?
5. What legal, policy and operational measures are in place to prevent and respond to deaths and disappearances at sea in the context of migration, and what challenges and good practices have been identified?
6. What steps have been taken, or are planned, to achieve the complete abolition of the death penalty in law in accordance with The Gambia's international obligations?

Where available, contributors are encouraged to provide quantitative and qualitative information, including data disaggregated by sex, age, disability, location and other relevant characteristics; examples of good practices and positive developments; and concrete recommendations.

How inputs will be used?

All inputs will be treated confidentially by the Special Rapporteur and used for the purpose of preparing the country visit and/or the report to the Human Rights Council. The Special Rapporteur greatly appreciates the effort that goes into preparing such contributions and looks forward to receiving the submissions.