A/HRC/28/68/Add.4 III. Assessment of the situation 12. In 1965, the Gambia emerged from a colonial past. For the past 20 years, it has been ruled by President Yahya Jammeh. The views of the President dominate and control the lives of the nearly 1.8 million Gambian citizens. The Special Rapporteur observed a layer of fear on the faces and in the voices of many people from civil society with whom he met, and some government officials. In his meetings with government officials, it was evident that all decisions, even by high-level ministers, came from the President’s Office. There is no room in Gambian society to discuss civil or political rights. If that is attempted, the standard response is deprivation of liberty with serious risk of torture or ill-treatment. 13. Against this background, the Special Rapporteur did not sense a genuine political will on the part of the Government to engage on human rights issues. A few authorities, however, did appear to welcome the visit as an opportunity to address challenges. 14. Recent events have made the precarious human rights situation in the Gambia even more dire. On 30 December 2014, there was an attempted coup d’état in which at least four insurgents were killed and one insurgent was reportedly injured and detained. In January 2015, it was reported that at least 52 individuals (civilians and military personnel), including family members of the insurgents, were being held and their whereabouts were unknown. They may be in unofficial places of detention and at great risk of being tortured. The Special Rapporteur has received reports that these individuals were picked up by plainclothes officers, likely belonging to the National Intelligence Agency or other security forces. The President’s response to this event suggests that the Gambia may regress further regarding human rights, as the deprivation of personal liberty and the risk of torture, arbitrary detention or enforced disappearance may be on the rise. 15. There is also clearly an imminent financial challenge facing the Gambia. However, this reality is not acknowledged by the Government as an opportunity to open up and accept external assistance in return for engaging not only with the international community but most importantly with its own citizens. Only by doing so can the Gambia move towards becoming a more humane society that does not tolerate abuses or current conditions, which give rise to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or even torture. A. 1. Practice of torture and ill-treatment Police force 16. The legal framework governing the work of the Gambia Police Force is composed of the Police Act, the Public Order Act and the Criminal Procedure Code. The Inspector General of Police, under the Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for the preservation of law and order. 17. In law, the standards for arrest and detention by the police in the Gambia are consistent, in principle, with international law: the police can conduct an arrest in cases of in flagrante delicto or on reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed and pursuant to an arrest warrant. However, in practice, arrests pursuant to a warrant are the exception and not the rule. 18. In 2012, the concept of community policing was formally reflected in the creation of the Human Rights Unit. The Special Rapporteur noticed posters that had been put up in official buildings to educate the public and encourage the reporting of rape, torture and extrajudicial killings to the Police Service Commission. However, on the basis of testimonies received by the Special Rapporteur, citizens avoid reporting abuses owing to fear of reprisals, lack of substantive redress and a general mistrust of the police. 5