We, the members of the Gambian civil society, meeting at the 15th TANGO Policy Dialogue Series on the theme ‘Civil Society Engagement with the TRRC’ on 15th May 2018,
Bearing in mind the significant political changes registered since December 2016 that ended 22-year authoritarian rule in the Gambia;
Noting the efforts of the Gambia Government and development partners to ensure transitional justice to enable the Gambia transition to democracy founded on sound good governance and human rights principles
Aware of the critical role that civil society must play in the transformation process of the country;
Committed to actively participating and supporting the transitional justice process in the country;
Prepared to partner and support the TRRC to ensure its efficiency, credibility and legitimacy and strengthen the institution to deliver as per its Act;
Have resolved that the civil society undertake the following,
- Civil society needs to be more organized and develop the necessary strategies and plans to work in concert in order to effectively address the pertinent issues affecting the Gambian society including playing its rightful role in the transitional justice process;
- To advocate for the Gambia Government to take leadership and responsibility to allocate necessary resources to the TRRC despite external support;
- To promote inclusiveness and popular engagement in order to ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the transitional justice process and in particular in the work of the TRRC;
- To raise the awareness of the general public to better understand the nature, scope and objectives of transitional justice in order to obtain active popular participation;
- To utilise active media components in providing information to the general public including the use of traditional communicators as means to popularise the TRRC and transitional justice;
- To create a civil society platform as a common ground to advocate and engage with the TRRC;
- To mobilise all other sectors of the civil society, academia and private sector to serve as means to address the needs of victims and other affected sectors;
- To embark on capacity building of all stakeholders to ensure their effective participation and efficiency in their engagement with TRRC;
- The TRRC must have an exit strategy to enable the sustainability of the gains including the enforcement of the recommendations of the TRRC and the continued and active participation of stakeholders;
- To create a follow up mechanism to ensure the development of civil society strategies and the monitoring of the implementation of the resolutions of the policy dialogue.
Done on 15th May 2018, TANGO Conference Hall, Fajara, The Gambia.
