A/HRC/28/68/Add.4 II. Legal framework A. International level 7. The ratification of international human rights treaties by the Gambia is limited3 and the status of its ratification of a number of treaties is unclear. There is a lack of understanding, even within the Government, of the status of ratification for such conventions and of customary international law in the domestic system. It appears that two treaties,4 have been approved by the National Assembly but the instruments of ratification have not yet been deposited with the Secretary-General. 8. The State has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. B. Regional level 9. The Gambia has accepted the jurisdiction of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, based in Banjul, and the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It has made the declaration under article 34, paragraph 6, of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in which it accepted the competence of the Court to receive and examine cases from individuals and non-governmental organizations. However, the Government has not complied with the relevant decisions of ECOWAS.5 C. National level 10. The Gambia maintains the dualist system of ratifying and domesticating the provisions of human rights instruments before they can be invoked or directly enforced by the courts or other tribunals or administrative authorities. However, the provisions of nondomesticated human rights instruments that are in consonance with the Constitution can be and have been invoked before the courts. Such provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights have been invoked before the High Court of the Gambia. 11. Section 21 of the Constitution of the Gambia states that “no person shall be subject to torture or inhuman degrading punishment or other treatment”. However, the offence of torture, as defined in article 1 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is not included in the Criminal Code (Act No. 25 of 1933). 3 4 5 4 See http://indicators.ohchr.org. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. See Manneh v. The Gambia (2008) African Human Rights Law Reports 171 (ECOWAS 2008), Hydara et al v. The Gambia (2014) ECW/CCJ/APP/30/11, and Musa Saidykhan v. The Gambia (2010) ECW/CCJ/APP/11/07.