Lessons from Survivors: Promoting A Victim-centered Approach in The Gambia’s Transitional Justice

Thanks to Canada’s PSOPs, Justice Rapid Response (JRR) produced a short-documentary film, Ayeshah’s Podcast: Forgotten Voices of The Gambia, showcasing the path to justice of Gambian survivors and emphasizing on the importance of relying on a holistic approach to justice processes, both for judicial or non-judicial justice avenues. The film seeks to inform the international community on the priority issues that need to be addressed to continue effectively promoting a holistic and victim-centered approach to justice, in which survivors’ agency is fostered.

The event will be organized around : 

1. the screening of the short-documentary film and 

2. a panel discussion.

Guests will learn how justice processes can be restorative if the participation and agency of victims and survivors is effectively promoted at all stages of a given process. They will also discover how innovative and non-judicial justice initiatives can contribute to durable peace and reconciliation alongside traditional justice avenues. The challenges of adopting such an approach based on the case study of The Gambia will be addressed, as well as best practices and lessons learned.