A/HRC/45/45/Add.3 disappearance. As noted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the lack of an autonomous crime of enforced disappearance creates a situation whereby enforced disappearance is instead investigated and prosecuted as a different crime, such as murder, abduction or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. As a result, suspected perpetrators of enforced disappearance can be acquitted if the standards of proof for those codified crimes are not met. 4 The crime of torture, although prohibited under the Constitution, is not criminalized under the Criminal Code. Other concerning elements in the Criminal Code include the retention of the death penalty and the criminalization of homosexuality and abortion. 13. As analysed below, a process has been initiated to reform the country’s legal framework, including the Constitution, the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, with support of the international community. 14. In the Gambia, as in other countries with dualist legal systems, international legal instruments on human rights must be codified in domestic law before they are considered legally binding. However, as noted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in its 2017 country visit report, the rules for domestication of ratified international human rights treaties remain unclear. While international treaties are not included in the Constitution, in instances when international human rights treaties are in consonance with the country’s constitutional provisions, direct domestic applicability has been invoked by the High Court and in official statements to regional human rights bodies. 5 C. General impressions 15. With support and guidance from the international community, the new administration has initiated a domestic process aimed at addressing past abuses and preventing their recurrence, including by releasing political prisoners, ending repression, initiating institutional reform and establishing transitional justice processes. Early in the process, the Government engaged with international organizations and donors to design a number of transitional justice measures. With the aim of assisting in the implementation of a transitional justice process tailored to the needs and characteristics of the Gambia, a series of assessments were undertaken to support the domestic process. In 2017, a national consultation process was organized by the Ministry of Justice in partnership with several stakeholders in the country. The views of the public were incorporated in the drafting of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission Act and in the adoption of a national transitional justice strategy. To date, the establishment of the Commission has been the most interesting and successful initiative in this regard. Other relevant actions include creating the Constitutional Review Commission, establishing the National Human Rights Commission, and embarking on a mapping exercise to guide the adoption of a muchneeded security sector and civil service reform aimed at preventing the recurrence of past State-led violence. 16. However, measures remain to be implemented in several other areas. Prosecutions have been initiated in only a handful of cases, and the release of the Junglers, who confessed serious human rights violations at the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, caused a social uproar. While the Special Rapporteur recognizes the political will expressed by the Government to provide reparations, he is concerned that victims have not yet received them, especially rehabilitation for those suffering serious ill-effects, and that the reparations policy has not yet been adequately discussed in consultation with victims. Memorialization initiatives are virtually non-existent and institutional reforms are still at an embryonic stage. 17. International assistance has been key to the design and implementation of the incipient but significant transitional justice measures currently in progress in the country. 18. The present report is focused on the situation during the visit, although some references are made to subsequent developments. The report was sent to the Government of the Gambia for comments on 28 April 2020 and was finalized on 22 June 2020. 4 5 A/HRC/39/46/Add.1, para. 30. Ibid., para. 29. 5