A/HRC/45/45/Add.3 H. Guarantees of non-recurrence 76. A set of institutional, constitutional and legal reforms has been initiated by the current administration. The reforms are aimed at building the infrastructure required in a democratic State, in order to ensure that violations similar to those of the recent past do not recur. 1. Human rights framework 77. The National Human Rights Commission was established by an Act in December 2017, and Commission members took up their functions in February 2019. The Commission has a mandate to monitor, receive and investigate human rights violations committed by State and non-State officials after the date of the creation of the Commission. The mandate must include the enforced disappearances that were committed by the previous regime, but that remained unresolved after December 2017, since enforced disappearances are a continuous crime as long as the fate or whereabouts of the person remains unknown. The selected commissioners had the opportunity to receive training abroad and begin drafting foundational working documents to operationalize the Commission’s work. The Government reported that the human rights policy framework will be strengthened with a Standing Human Rights and Constitutional Matters Committee, within the National Assembly, and a National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-Up, to assist in the reporting to human rights mechanisms. 78. Since the change of regime, the Gambia has ratified several human rights treaties including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty; and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Gambia has yet to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, among others. It has also failed to domesticate the international treaties ratified, which has a negative impact on the effective realization of human rights in the country. In particular, the country has not yet criminalized enforced disappearance and torture, and it has not abolished the death penalty, despite having made an international commitment to do so. 79. The 2019 universal periodic review of the Gambia included numerous recommendations in the areas of truth, accountability and guarantees of non-recurrence, 22 which were accepted by the Government and should be implemented without delay. 80. The Special Rapporteur praises the Government’s decision, which was formally communicated to the Secretary-General in February 2017, to reverse the withdrawal from the International Criminal Court by former President Jammeh. More recently, the Gambia received worldwide praise for filing a case before the International Court of Justice against Myanmar for violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide committed against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, becoming the first time that a country without any direct connection to the alleged crimes has used its membership in the Convention to bring a case before the Court. Besides the clear merits of this action in terms of international accountability for the crime of genocide, the decision – while not directly related to the domestic human rights policies of the Gambia – shows the significance that the Government attributes to respecting international law and addressing serious human rights violations. 2. Security sector reform 81. In May 2017, President Barrow underscored the need for a comprehensive security sector reform. In collaboration with regional and international organizations, the Government initiated a mapping process for the design of such a reform. Following an assessment of the existing institutions conducted in 2017, the Office of National Security developed a national security policy, which was approved in June 2019. 22 www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/GMindex.aspx. 15