By Musa Saho
The Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice in partnership with the American Bar Association (ABA) and Freedom House, recently concluded a three day Technical Review Retreat on the Draft Victims’ Reparations Bill held at Sindola, Safari Lodge in Kanilai.
The retreat targeted officials from the Ministry of Justice, victim-led organisations, American Bar Association, Freedom House and representatives of selected civil society organisations working on transitional justice issues in The Gambia.
The objective of the retreat is to critically review the recently drafted bill by key stakeholders in order to have an inclusive and participatory process that reflects and responds to victims’ needs and expectations.
During the session, the Ministry of Justice representative gave back- ground information on the bill and further conducted a technical review and assessment of the bill.
The retreat ended with a focus group discussion where CSOs and other victim-led institutions later re- viewed the bill and provided outputs to be incorporated.
The bill when approved will create an independent body with powers to manage and administer issues related to reparations within the confinement of the Act.
