Minister of Justice
By Landing Ceesay
The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC) has urged the government to ‘immediately’ repeal all the repressive legislation.
“The government should With immediate effect, repeal all repressive legislation, including legislation that does not comply with international and regional human rights law, particularly the Information and Communication (Amendment) Act 2013 and Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2013; being criminal libel and defamation. The Newspaper Act;” TRRC said.
The Commission also urged the government to ensure the establishment of an independent public service broadcaster and transform GRTS into a public service broadcaster.
“The government should ensure media independence, including through reforms to Chapter IV of the Information and Communications Act 2009 and the repeal of the Newspaper and Broadcasting Stations Act 1994 (as amended in 2004), in particular, to ensure that broadcast content regulation is within the competence of an independent regulatory body applying standards in compliance with international human rights standards, and ensure the establishment of an independent public service broadcaster and the transformation of the GRTS into a public service broadcaster,” the Commission said.
The commission further urged the government to repeal Section 173A of the Information and Communications Act 2009 (as amended 2013).
The recommendations of the commission are in volume 7 of its report on attack on the media and freedom of expression attack on political opponents under Jammeh. The report was submitted to the Gambian President-elect, Adama Barrow in November and made public on 24 December.
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