Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Gambian counterpart on ensuring that British-Gambian citizens voices are heard by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission in that country.

The UK Government welcomes the establishment of the independent Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to gather information about human rights violations which took place under the presidency of Yahya Jammeh. The UK has provided £75,000 through the International Centre for Transitional Justice for an outreach programme to raise awareness and promote engagement. Our High Commissioner in Banjul regularly meets with TRRC officials and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hosted the TRRC Vice Chair and officials in London last year. The TRRC has invited contributions from all those who may have been victims, perpetrators or witnesses to human rights violations between July 1992 and January 2017. We would encourage British-Gambians to submit their personal accounts via the TRRC website: www.trrc.gm.