You can contact our Editorial Team at: oxfordhumanrightshub@law.ox.ac.uk

We are also delighted to welcome Tusha Mittal, a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, to our team of Regional Correspondents who play an integral role in helping us increase the global reach of the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog.  She will join our existing team of Regional Correspondents: Adélaïde Remiche from the Centre de Droit Public, l’Université Libre de Bruxelles; Tabeth Masengu from the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town; Shallelle van der Berg from the Socio-Economic Rights and Administrative Justice Research Project at the University of Stellenbosch; and Se-shauna Wheatle, Stipendary Lecturer in Law at Exeter College, University of Oxford.

We would like to thank all of those who have been part of the editorial team since our launch in July 2012.  This team has included our founding editors, Chris McConnachie, Miles Jackson and Dhvani Mehta, and 2013 editorial team Angelica De Gaetano, Greer Feick and Celeste Robinson.  Meghan Campbell, OxHRH Administrator, has also played an integral role in the smooth operation of the OxHRH Blog. This hard-working and talented team has been responsible for the creativity, dynamism, quality of the blog over the past 15 months.  Thank you!

Miles, Chris and Angelica will continue to be involved with the  OxHRH Blog as Consulting Editors.

Meet our new Editors:

Claire Overman is currently studying for the BPTC at Kaplan Law School, and is the current Bacon Scholar and a Residential Scholar of Gray’s Inn. She completed her undergraduate degree with first class honours in Law with Law Studies in Europe at Keble College, University of Oxford and the Université de Paris, and completed the BCL at the University of Oxford in 2013.  Claire has been a frequent contributor to the OxHRH Blog.

Rachel Wechsler is currently a first-year DPhil student in Criminology, focusing her research on sex trafficking in The Netherlands.  Prior to coming to Oxford, Rachel was a litigation associate at Latham & Watkins LLP in New York, where she led the Pro Bono Asylum Program.  She has also served as a Legal Intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Rachel completed her law degree at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her Master’s degree in Evidence-based Social Work at Oxford, and her Bachelor’s degree in Human Development at Cornell University (Honors).

Chintan Chandrachud is reading for the PhD in Law at the University of Cambridge on a Judge Evan Lewis Thomas Scholarship. He pursued the BCL and MPhil at the University of Oxford and completed his LLB from the Government Law College Mumbai. His research focuses on the UK Human Rights Act and the Constitution of India.

Jammeh’s moratorium may have calmed the temporary global outcry, but his country’s criminal justice system remains deeply problematic. Whilst death row inmates may wonder when, if ever, the next round of executions may resume, human rights groups should still examine the conditions of indefinite detainment at Mile Two State Central Prison where they are held, without ignoring just how easy it is to end up there.

From confirmed cases of arbitrary detention to evidence of forced confessions, capital punishment can hardly avoid being a controversial tool beyond the primary debate. However, one issue that has received little attention is the accusation that the Gambian government employs corrupt ‘mercenary judges’.

Finally acknowledged by the US Department of State Human Rights reports, these foreign judges oversee ‘sensitive’ cases and are ‘particularly subject to executive pressure’. Senior members of the judiciary are imported from other Commonwealth countries and focus attention their on Chapter VII of Gambia’s criminal code. By broadly defining incitement and sedition, the Gambian legal system has managed to place anyone from missionaries to journalists behind bars under the pretence of treason, a charge that carries the death penalty.

Most commonly targeted, however, are members of security institutions. Consistently at odds with the state structures intended to keep the

country safe and intact, the executive regularly clears the top ranks of Gambia’s police force, military branches, and intelligence agency. Wave after wave of police, military, and intelligence leadership is removed as the President seeks to satisfy paranoia and consolidate power, with the judiciary caught in the middle of this tense and volatile battle.

Torture has become the preferred method of discovering the latest plots for rebellion, even if none exist. Victims accused of incitement, opposing the President, or crimes against the state’s sovereign authority tell of electric shocks, sexual torture, forced labour, mock executions, near-drownings, endless beatings, extrajudicial killings, and custodial deaths. Many more have simply disappeared. Others have fled pre-emptively, knowing that without due process, their time was coming, regardless of their deeds. But those that don’t escape are forced to make death row at Mile Two State Central Prison their home, amidst appalling detention conditions.

With a manipulated legal code, a hijacked judiciary, and law enforcement officials held hostage in a state of fear, Gambia’s criminal justice system will continue to entrench human rights abuse absent the same international pressure that halted last year’s executions. Most notably, Taiwan – Gambia’s blind-eye donor – will have to find its voice.

The four member team included second year undergraduate students Rajkiran Barhey (Hertford College), Jiahui Huang (Magdalen College, Best Speaker in Final), Danny Tang (Harris Manchester College) and Daryl Ho (Balliol College).

Congratulations to the team and good luck for International Rounds in Washington D.C.

The British Academy’s response to the report is available here.

Of interest too is the Minority Report issued by two commissioners, Philippe Sands and Helena Kennedy.  The Minority Report includes a reference to Professor John Eekelaar’s OxHRH blog post: The Universality of Human Rights Norms: Why the UK Should Stay with Strasbourg.

Next week, we will continue with the pro bono theme, featuring a series of posts on the state of pro bono legal work in other countries.  If you would like to share your experiences of pro bono work or developments in your country please email the editorial team at oxfordhumanrightshub@law.ox.ac.uk.

[liveblog]

[liveblog]