The British Government: It is an International Obligation to Grant Political Asylum to Detained Gambian Journalist, Scholar and Human Rights Activist, Mr. Abdou Karim Sanneh.
Reports have confirmed the detention of our colleague and comrade in the struggle, Journalist, Scholar and Human Rights Activist Abdou Karim Sanneh by the Immigration authorities of the British Home Office. Mr. Sanneh is currently held at the Hammond’s Worth Immigration Detention Center on a 72hrs Fast Track for deportation; shocking news that has stunned the Gambian intellectual community and civil society organizations.
Over the years, Mr. Sanneh has been a staunch critic of the brutal dictatorship that overshadowed the Gambia. His commitment in ensuring that Gambia boards the band-wagon of civilized democratic nations is no hidden agenda, as Mr. Sanneh left no tone on stone in naming and shaming the Gambian authorities for human rights abuses, corruption, greed, abysmal institutional failures, the lack of transparency and a disregard in upholding the rule of law. A November, 11th 2008 Amnesty International Report, titled Fear Rules in the Gambia further vindicates Mr. Sanneh’s activist role, as it gives a detail account of rights abuses under the administration of President Yaya Jammeh from 1994 – 2008.
In view of that, his charades and tirades for decency in a nation once hailed a champion of human rights have touched communities across remote locations of the Gambia. He is a true representation of the voices of the voiceless in the tiny West African nation, bringing to light the realities of a nation that has lost all its great societal fabrics under the whims and caprices of a dictatorship.
Historically, following the end of the Second World War, Britain played a pivotal role in the drafting an adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights, which affirmed the right of an individual to seek and enjoy asylum from prosecution. However following a growing international consensus about the preservation of sovereign rights of states to grant asylum, Britain and its allies further took a forefront in the drafting of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was finally adopted on the 28th day of July 1951. The adoption was based on the definition of the term ‘refugee’ centered on the concept of a ‘well founded fear of persecution.’
Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention Article 1 Defines a Refugee as:
“Any person who owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual, residence….is unable or, owing to such fear is unwilling to return to…..”
Under Article 33 of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, expulsion or return (refoulement) is prohibited as follows:
“No Contacting State shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion…..”
This was indeed the significant change in policy, meaning refugees could be identified both as in groups and on an individual case-by-case bases (State of the World Refugees, 2000).
Chronicling the unfortunate state of affairs in the Gambia, Mr. Sanneh’s last article titled Gambia and 14 years of President Jammeh’s imperfect offerings speaks volume about his commitment to end corruption, encourage transparency, enhance democracy, and upholding respect for the rule of law as the vanguard of the tenets to good governance in the Gambia.
Mr. Sanneh’s asylum application must be no exception to such international legal obligations, as it is legally binding upon the British government to protect the Gambian scholar, journalist and human rights activist, whose asylum application stems from a ‘well founded fear of prosecution’. It is therefore a moral international obligation upon the British authorities to make a halt to Mr. Sanneh’s immigration proceedings for removal by granting him political asylum.
The United Nations (UN), Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and all other organizations of transnational civil society must therefore reinforce efforts by Gambian civil society in ensuring that Journalist, Scholar and Human Rights Activist Mr.Abdou Karim Sanneh is granted International protection by the British authorities.
