Abstract Book of the 4th International Conference on LGBT Studies
Year: 2025
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The Forgotten in The Remembrance: The Glaring Absence Of LGBTQI+ Victims in The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission
Abdoulie Wilson
ABSTRACT:
This paper critically examines the marginalization of LGBTQI+ victims by The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC), established in the aftermath of Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian regime. Despite the documented state-sponsored persecution and systemic violence inflicted on LGBTQI+ individuals under Jammeh’s rule, the TRRC failed to acknowledge or investigate these human rights violations. This omission reflects broader societal homophobia entrenched within Gambian society and perpetuated by successive governments, including the current administration under President Adama Barrow. While the Barrow government has softened public rhetoric around LGBTQI+ issues, it has maintained repressive laws, such as the “aggravated homosexuality” statute, leaving LGBTQI+ Gambians legally vulnerable and socially ostracized. This paper argues that the TRRC’s failure to recognize the specific abuses suffered by LGBTQI+ individuals constitutes a breach of international human rights obligations, denying victims the right to truth, justice, and reparations. The exclusion not only erases the lived experiences of LGBTQI+ victims from the national narrative but also undermines the broader goals of transitional justice—particularly the guarantees of non-recurrence, memorialization, and societal reform. By analyzing the TRRC’s shortcomings, this study highlights the urgent need for inclusive transitional justice processes that address all forms of marginalization to ensure comprehensive accountability and societal healing in post-dictatorship Gambia.
Keywords: homophobia, prosecution, national-narrative, accountability, marginalization