African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED)
About ANEKED
The African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) is an independent, non-political and non-religious women-led and victim-centred civil society organisation founded in 2019 in response to the atrocities committed during Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorial rule in The Gambia. Jammeh came into power in 1994 and ruled until his ousting in January 2017. His rule was characterised by widespread grave human rights violations. Agents of the State, most notably “The Junglers” (a notorious military hit squad that took direct orders from Jammeh), were perpetrators of many killings and other human rights violations some of which amounted to crimes against humanity.
It is from this context that ANEKED campaigns against forced disappearances and summary executions, in addition to advocating for justice and accountability for victims while ensuring that nobody suffers in silence. An emphasis is placed on women victims and survivors who, despite leading the struggle for truth and justice, are often overlooked and invisible, left behind to deal with the socioeconomic, legal and familial impact of enforced disappearance.
The organisation operates in The Gambia, Switzerland, Ghana and most recently, hosted engagements in Senegal. Its long-term goal is to continue expanding across the African continent.
ANEKED's Work
Documenting the Truth Process
ANEKED has been committed to ensuring that The Gambian transitional justice process is inclusive and accessible. In an effort to make the truth process more accessible, ANEKED conceptualised the “TRRC Digest” - an analytical summary of witness testimonies and detailed mapping of human rights violations and perpetrators - the first edition of which was published in April 2019. Through the TRRC Digest, ANEKED documented and archived the TRRC (Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission) proceedings The Gambia. The TRRC Digests also present the witnesses list, names of persons mentioned during testimonies as having allegedly committed human rights violations and abuses and, their current position within the state, regional and international institutions, among others. The publications were widely disseminated virtually to the general public and hard copies were distributed to civil society organisations (CSOs), schools, university libraries and other relevant stakeholders including ministries. Information contained in the TRRC Digest was also translated into the four local languages (Jola, Wolof, Fula and Mandinka) and aired through local community radios in an attempt to reach the thousands of Gambians without internet access.
In addition to acting as a watchdog on the implementation of the TRRC recommendations, ANEKED continues to document human rights violations, mapping locations and reporting on perpetrators.
Strategic Litigation
ANEKED pursues strategic litigation as part of its strategy to promote human rights. The organisation to date has supported six victims of human rights violations file cases at the ECOWAS Court of Justice. Two of the cases received landmark rulings in favour of the victims, one in July 2023 and the other in July 2024.
Memorialisation
“Memory House”, a memorial centre housing the permanent exhibition “The Duty to Remember” was launched in October 2021. Memory House honours and legitimises the experiences of victims of human rights violations and provides a space for mourning and reflection for their relatives thus contributing to long-term healing. Temporary exhibitions created by other grassroots organisations, young people and individuals engaged in the transitional justice process in The Gambia also share the space. A virtual 3D versionof Memory House was also developed to ensure that the victims’ stories are told far and wide.
Memory House is also an education centre where students and young people are actively engaged to promote constructive dialogue around human rights and support young students on the concepts and importance of human rights, the impacts of violations of human rights, and how to advocate for it. ANEKED developed a Student Brief on Human Rights, Activism and The Gambia (also available in French) as a supplement for teaching and learning of human rights in schools.
Education and Research
Committed to delivering knowledge, ANEKED is now moving toward research partnerships to share knowledge gained in The Gambian transitional justice context and other jurisdictions. To achieve this, ANEKED is developing the Transitional Justice Teaching Tool, a multidisciplinary online and in-person teaching tool designed to demonstrate how active civic engagement can not only strengthen transitional justice processes, but result in establishing a solid foundation in preventing atrocities from reoccurring while limiting impunity and demanding accountability.
Advocacy and Outreach
As part of its advocacy, ANEKED has also launched a documentary “I Cannot Bury My Father” – a short documentary film centred on the fight for justice the West African migrants who were forcibly disappeared and allegedly killed in 2005 by Gambian security forces on Jammeh’s orders.
ANEKED is a member of the Alliance of Victim-Led Organisations (AVLO) and works closely with other organisations and CSOs in The Gambia to foster collaboration in the distribution of reparations, victim advocacy, in addition to furthering local ownership of the transitional justice mechanisms. ANEKED is also part of the Jammeh2Justice campaign, a regional and international consortium of organisations campaigning for Jammeh and his accomplices to be held accountable and for legal recourse to victims.
