The Gambia is benefiting from a 24-month Forensic Investigation Enhancement Project worth $930,000 and funded by the United States, a statement from its embassy in Banjul revealed on Wednesday.
The program will be implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with Gambia’s justice ministry of Justice and civil society groups.
Chargé d’Affaires Robert Anderson underscored the U.S. government’s support for The Gambia’s efforts to deliver justice and accountability for victims and their families over crimes thought to have been committed during the 22-year rule of former President Yahya Jammeh.
“The United States is proud to support The Gambia as it strengthens its capacity to pursue justice, establish the facts, and provide answers to families who have waited so long,” he said.
The project will directly respond to the findings of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings committed between 1994 and 2017.
It supports The Gambia’s Special Accountability Mechanism, including the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the Special Criminal Division of the High Court, and the forthcoming ECOWAS-backed Special Tribunal.
It will look to plugging gaps in the country’s forensic and justice sector while helping build a modern criminal justice system.
Though this initiative the US government will support the training of Gambian law enforcement officers and forensic experts who will pass their skills to others over the next two years.
It will also fund the upgrade of forensic facilities and equipment, including modern laboratories for DNA analysis, toxicology, digital forensics, and other essential services, and will assist the justice ministry in establishing a Gambian team of forensic experts, working alongside a regional forensics champion, to identify human remains and determine causes of death.
Standardised operating procedures, protocols, and training manuals will guide forensic investigations, evidence handling, and crime scene management.
These tools will also strengthen coordination among The Gambia Police Force, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Special Prosecutor’s Office, and civil society partners, including the African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) and The Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations.
WN/as/APA