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The Victim’s Podcast
The Victim’s Podcast
The Fight for Justice in Gambia: A Conversation with the National Coordinator of the Victims Center - Mr. Adama Jallow
Get ready to be enlightened as we sit down with Adama Jallow, the National Coordinator of the Gambia Center of Victims of Human Rights Violations. Known as the Victim Center, this establishment plays a fundamental role in the pursuit of justice during the Gambia's transitional period. Brace yourself for an exploration into the center's outreach programs, victim registrations, and initiatives to magnify the voices of the victims in matters of reparation and reconciliation. Understand the center's profound impact on the lives of victims and the importance of sustainability in its operations.
Ever wondered about the immense work that goes behind seeking justice for victims of human rights violations? Meet our remarkable guest, Adama Jallow the National Coordinator of the Gambia Center of Victims of Human Rights Violations. Jallow opens up about the relentless advocacy of the Victim Center since its establishment in 2017. We journey through the diverse activities of the center, from outreach programs to media engagements, and their collaborations with organizations like Amnesty International. Mr. Jallow also sheds light on the crucial role of the Victim Center during the pivotal transitional justice period in Gambia.
Now, imagine a support system for victims that goes beyond providing just medical support, one that also educates victims about the transitional justice process. That is precisely what the Victim Center aspires to be. With Jallow at the helm, he voices the importance of the center's sustainability and the need for philanthropy, government aid, and donations to ensure its continuity. Jallow reassures the victims of their ongoing efforts at justice and reparations, highlighting the mental health services and legal representation offered by the center. You won't want to missed Mr. Jallow’s engaging insights, the Victim's Podcast's presence on social media, or his wisdom on maintaining peace amid injustice.
Stay tuned! Adama Jallow gives us an insider's perspective on the struggle to secure adequate funding and the resilience of the staff and board members amid these challenges. As we wind up, Isatou Jammeh, the national coordinator of the Gambia Center of Human Rights Violations, joins us to expound on the Victim Center's mission and its progress in championing justice and human rights in the Gambia. Recognize how crucial it is to stay informed and to lend your support to the Victim Center's commendable work. This promises to be a stirring conversation that will leave you more informed and inspired to contribute to a worthy cause.
Creator and Host : Isatou Jammeh , Co - Hosts : Lamin and Fatou
Let's keep the Memories of Victims Alive
Hello and welcome to the Victim Podcast. My name is Lamien Fadera, your host for this episode Coming up in today's program, the Gambia Center of Victims of Human Rights Violations National Coordinator Adam Mujalo, had a conversation with the Victim Podcast's Aizari Jame on wide range of issues regarding the plight of the victims in the Gambia. Well, following the 22-year of Jame's tyrannical rule, which ended in 2017, the Victim Center was set up. What important role does the Victim Center place in advocacy during the transitional justice period in the Gambia?
Speaker 1:The activities mainly is on advocacy and that's the platform to ensure that the victims' voices are amplified to seek for the dress and also for reparation and reconciliation. So the Center around this three-year process and it has gone beyond since 2017 to date and we have met victims of all different categories We've also met with the community to talk to them about the T-year process, talk to them about what is reparation, what is reconciliation, what is justice, why do victims need to dress and why do victims need to be registered?
Speaker 2:Well with this and a lot more issues you will hear in this special interview our colleague Aizari Jame had with Adam Mujalo, the National Coordinator of the Gambia Center of Human Rights Violations, called the Victim Center. This is the Victim Podcast. Welcome back. In case you are listening to the podcast for the first time, welcome on board. The objective of the Victim Podcast is to raise awareness about transitional justice beyond the work of the TRRC and highlight the importance of implementing the recommendations of the TRRC report. This podcast will create a platform for victims, civil society organizations and NGOs to ensure co-race awareness of the non-recurrence of human rights violations, and the Never Again campaign is achieved in the form of a podcast. You can follow the Victim Podcast on Twitter, facebook or, better still, on Instagram. Welcome back.
Speaker 2:Well, since the establishment of the Gambia Center of Victims of Human Rights Violations in 2017, so many victims of the former President Yaya Jame 22 years tyranny came to the Victim Center to register with the Center. What are the roles of the Victim Center? How important is the Victim Center? What impact are they having during this transitional justice period in the Gambia? With these and a lot more in our conversation a victim podcast, aizadou Jame had a cheat chat with the National Coordinator of the Gambia Center of Human Rights Violations, adama Jalo. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3:Today I have a very important guest and this institution had been here for the longest time and they've played a crucial role in ensuring justice for victims and put in the center stage starting point of advocacy around justice for victims. He would introduce himself and tell you who he is and, yeah, and basically he's going to tell you everything about the organization and what they've been doing from start to date. Welcome on the show. Thank you very much Aizadou.
Speaker 1:I'm glad to have you in the office to talk about the victim center, because it's something that I would always want to talk about. Just like you put it, Victim center has been here for a while. It was established in 2017 by the victims themselves. I mean, one person cannot fight for himself, and I think that was the rationale why victims came together unanimously to form the victim center, called the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violation, a non-profit organization, a non-political organization. It was registered at the age and since 2017, it has been operating.
Speaker 1:It has a board of directors, it also has a secretariat, and the secretariat is headed by me as the national coordinator of the Magyarro. And then you have different units, and the units are the program and documentation, legal department, psychosocial finance. Yes, these are the main units that are within the victim center and each of them overlap. They work together as a team. So, like I said, it was established since 2017, and it has been very proactive in ensuring justice for victims, and it has worked with partners, the victim-led organization, order, CSOs, NGOs and also with the Human Rights Commission. It has also worked with the national, with the TRRC that was established by government.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much. As you rightly hear from the national coordinator of the victim center, nisada Majalo, that the victim center was set up in 2017, and they've done a lot of work in terms of advocacy around justice. But, mr Jalo, can you briefly also tell us a little bit about some of the activities that the victim center had implemented from the start of the organization until where we are today?
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. The activities mainly is on advocacy and that's the platform to ensure that the victim's voices are amplified to seek for address and also for reparation and consolation. So it's centered around this three-year process and it has gone beyond since 2017. To date, we have been working with different partners. Some of the partners are international sides of concerns Amnesty International, ittg, you name them. So those are institutions that have supported our activities and also our operational costs in the institution.
Speaker 1:We have been having outreach programs the outreach programs across the country, the Lentenbret of the Gambia and we have met victims of all different categories. We've also met with the community to talk to them about the ITG process, talk to them about what is reparation, what is reconciliation, what is justice, why do victims need to address? Why do victims need to be registered? So, apart from the outreach, we have engaged in many registrations just to make sure that the people that are not rich are rich, that is, the people that are far, because, you know, the media is very powerful in terms of information sharing. So we've did that a lot. I mean it's also core activity in the institution. The staffs have engaged different, different ices. You have also engaged a lot of media houses and we have amplified victims, especially when it comes to reparation and reconciliation. So that has been the core activity that the victim centre has been doing. We've also been supporting victims and we've also informed victims the things that we support them for insurance, school support.
Speaker 1:You and I know that the victims, some of them, can't afford paying school fees for their children because it's either they are sick or they've been malhandled during the Yaya Jameh era or they've been displaced or sucked from their jobs. So most of them depend on people to support them. So the BEC has been very, very, very supportive in terms of ensuring people go to the schools and attend their schools, for instance, primary school. We've also gone beyond that. We have been paying some students that are in the university for their education, mdi and other things like that. Apart from the school support, we've also been giving psychosocial support.
Speaker 1:You know, when you talk about the Yaya Jameh era and you and I have heard about the TRRC, we've heard of foreign deal stories from victims that have been tortured, raped, you know. So obviously most of them are traumatised. So the BEC has played a pivotal role in terms of, especially, the psychosocial unit and they have been, you know, canceling, referring some of them for higher medical attention. And we have seen over the years that many of those victims that are traumatised have also given confidence and now their minds have now come back. So you can see the impact that the psychosocial unit has done. You know America and we've also supported victims that have had trauma, not just trauma. There are people that have problems with regards to systemic issues hypertension, eye problem, dental problem so most of them were, you know, treated by the clinic that we have signed and MOU with them. So we have really, really impacted the lives of victims in all these areas that are just broken.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much, mr Adam Ajalo. If you're just joining in, you're listening to the victim podcast and with me in the studio is Mr Adam Ajalo, the national coordinator of the Gamble Centre for Victims of Human Rights Violations, and he's talking about the work of the VC and the activities that the VC had been doing and the impact of the victim centre in the lives and lifelifts of the victims. So, mr Ajalo, you've touched on very important points in terms of you know, this is something that a lot of people from the outside might not know about the work of the victim centre. There's a lot of advocacy done around what the victim centre is doing, but also to amplify it more, and I think it's important that for these conversations to be happening just to ensure that a lot of people get to know what the victim centre is doing. And one of the key things that you've talked about is impact.
Speaker 3:The VC had impacted a lot of victims and their families, and also not just even giving these immediate needs, but you talked about a very important point, which is Advocated Justice, ensuring victims know about reconciliation and reparations, and I think those are very impactful activities that the victims centre had been doing. Also, the medical support. A lot of victims have terminal illnesses and the victims centre was an organisation that really came in to ensure that these victims' needs are met. Though we have limited resources but little resources that we had we were able to do these things. So what would you tell the listeners that are listening to you in terms of getting more support, because the work of the victim centre, it should be everybody's business? Yes, it's a continuous thing and it should be everybody's business. What would you tell people that are listening donors, partners and even philanthropists that would be interested in the work of the victim centre just to come in and support?
Speaker 1:Thank you, madam MacIster. You've raised a very, very important issue in terms of sustainability. You and I know that most of these victims come from the society you and I belong to. Some of them are our relatives, close relatives, friends, and we have seen what the victim centre has done for them. Somebody that has lost a parent, somebody who has been traumatised because of the way and manner in which he or she was treated. We have impacted the life of that person in terms of ensuring that her senses come back normal and also ensuring that the school going child is supported to complete his or her education so that he or she comes back to the society and help the family he or she comes from.
Speaker 1:Medically, people that have mentioned terminal cases some. Really, there are cases that some victims are in a terminal stage and we have supported them. So, obviously, what I want to say is we have seen over the years the donor fatigue. We've seen donors are now, you know, diverting their issues or their focus in other way. So what I want to say here is to ensure, to say that all philanthropists, businessmen you can be government, for that matter as well to not see us as, like I said, beginning, we are a non-political institution and you don't belong to any political party. We are an institution that ensures that people get their justice, because it's not just the Ayah Jeremy case that we're talking about. Even tomorrow or even today, if we have seen injustice, we will come out to say the truth. Whoever has done it, if it is government or if it is an individual, we will address the issue. So let people come forward to support us, cast or kind whatever they have to help the institution move forward in terms of supporting the people that needs their support.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 3:I think that's clear. If you're listening to the victim podcast, mr Jalo, the national coordinator of the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violation, is calling out to Philanthropist donors government especially government to come in to support the victim center, just to make sure there's sustainability. You've seen the great work that the victim center is doing in terms of supporting victims, not just giving them the medical support, but also ensuring that they understand the transitional justice mechanism, and the most important part of our work is ensuring there's a never again. We had 22 years rule dictatorship and the institution is working towards ensuring that there is a never again. These things would not repeat itself again. So it's important that if you're listening and then you want to support the victim center, you could obviously come to the office, or you can always reach out to us, to the victim center, to ensure that you support the institution, you support the victims. So, mr Jalo, coming back to you again, what will be your final word? Just to tell our listeners and those that are listening to the victim podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. On a final note, what I would want to say here is for the victim themselves Let us be patient. We will surely be there. We've come a long way 27th June. To date, it's a long way, and let them also understand that it's a young organization that has been overstretched to some extent in terms of supporting people because of limited funding that we have. So all I want to say is for people to be patient and not be passive around and in terms of the redress that they are going to have, because we're working closely with government.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's slow, but government is also supporting, especially through the Ministry of Justice. They're doing a very good work. I think we need to commend them. We have seen some of the things that have already taken place, so sooner or later, we'll address the issue of reparation, so let the victim be patient for now. I also want to thank the secretariat, the support that I'm getting from the staff. It's a staff that I have in this institution. They are in terms of capacity. They have the capacity, they have the know-how and they've been doing very well. I see you are one of them and you are one of the founders, so we want to take this opportunity to thank you very much and also thank each and every one and also the new board that has come in. We have got a new board. We hope things will change as we go on along the ladder. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much. So that was Mr Jalod, the national coordinator of the Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights violation, who are dwelled in a lot of conversations around generally what the victim center is about, what their role is, the activities that they've implemented and the support that they've been given to victims from the inception of the victim center. Today, if you're listening, this is the victim podcast. You could always follow our show on Facebook, twitter, better still, on our website and, as well, we also have an Instagram page. This is a series that would be on the victim center. We'll have other four episodes that would be uploaded, with different speakers who will speak on the victim center and the role of the victim center as well, and the impact that it has on the lives of victims. Thank you very much, until you be coming away another day, another time.
Speaker 2:That was the victim podcast, Aizadu Jame, with the national coordinator of the Gambia Center of Human Rights violations in the Gambia, ending this discussion for the episode. Well, you can follow the victim's podcast on Twitter, Instagram and, of course, on Facebook. Don't forget to visit our website and download this podcast and other podcasts you might have missed. Well, have a nice day. Stay in peace until another time. Bye, bye you.