Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The Government of Ghana has yet to release a United Nations/Economic Community of West African States (UN/ECOWAS) investigation report into the enforced disappearance of West African migrants in The Gambia during the regime of former president Yahya Jammeh, despite a binding order by the ECOWAS Court of Justice issued eighteen months ago.
In a landmark judgment delivered on July 12, 2024, the ECOWAS Court found that Ghana violated the right to information under Article 9(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The case concerned the disappearance of Ghanaian citizen Peter Mensah in The Gambia in 2005.
The court ordered Ghana to release, within four months of service of the judgment, all relevant materials in its possession relating to the case. These include documentation, a videotape, a photograph, and the full report of a 2009 joint UN/ECOWAS investigation into the disappearance of West African migrants in The Gambia.
According to the judgment, disclosure of the materials would enhance transparency regarding the killing or disappearance of Ghanaian nationals in The Gambia and shed light on how the Ghanaian authorities handled the matter, particularly in relation to victims’ families.
However, a press release issued on Tuesday by the African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) says Ghana has still not provided the complete investigation report or the other ordered materials, despite repeated follow-ups.
The case was brought before the ECOWAS Court in November 2020 by Isaac Mensah, the son of Peter Mensah, together with 23 members of his family, with the support of ANEKED. The complaint accused Ghana of failing to provide information relating to Peter Mensah’s enforced disappearance and of violating the family’s rights as a result.
Peter Mensah was among at least 66 West African migrants abducted and forcibly disappeared in The Gambia in July 2005 while attempting to migrate to Europe. The victims included more than 40 Ghanaians, as well as nationals of Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
They were allegedly detained and killed by Gambian security forces, including the “Junglers,” a death squad said to have operated under the direct control of Jammeh.
ANEKED said Isaac Mensah, who was 13 years old when his father disappeared, has since 2018 sought to establish the truth about his father’s fate.
In October 2019, he formally requested information from the Ghanaian government, including the UN/ECOWAS investigation report, which had been handed to Ghanaian authorities but never made public. The government, the group said, did not respond to the request.
The rights group noted that without confirmation of their loved ones’ fate or access to their remains, families of the victims are unable to conduct proper burials or fully mourn and continue to seek justice more than two decades after the disappearances.
“No one has yet been held accountable in The Gambia for the enforced disappearance of the West African migrants,” the statement said.
As of publication, the Government of Ghana had not publicly responded to the press release or explained its continued failure to comply fully with the ECOWAS Court’s order.
