On hearing of the presence of Justice Hassan B. Jallow in the country, we caught up with him at his family home in Bakau and asked him few questions, starting with the new book he has just published.

Can you share with the general public the content of the latest book you authored?

Thank you, the book is entitled the Law of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

It’s essentially focussed on the drafting, the preparation of the African Charter dating back to early 70’s when the OAU summit decided a group of experts be convened to draft the African Charter with the aim of promoting and protecting Human Rights in Africa.

The book traces the progress of the drafting of that Charter highlighting the issues which faced the group of experts who prepared the pleminary draft, as well as the state representatives who eventually met together at both the ministerial and heads of state levels to finally adopt the Charter. I try to look at the issues on how they revolved in the Charter.

The second part of the book also focuses on how the African Commission on Human Rights, created by the Charter, interprets and applies those rights that are being provided for and guaranteed by the Charter. That is essentially what the book focuses on.

I had the privilege of participating in the process of drafting it right from the initial stage as an expert and subsequently a government representative. Essentially the book provides a guide to Human Rights practitioners, lawyers and others as to the meaning, interpretation and scope of the various rights which have been protected by the African Charter.

You authored other books. Can you elaborate on them?

Well before that, I wrote two collections of essays which I entitled Essays and Speeches on Law Justice and Governance Selected Papers.

Thereafter I wrote a book on the law of evidence in The Gambia. I had hoped at that time to proceed on a little bit of teaching at the GTTI on the law programme. I hoped also to progress beyond the publication of law on evidence to one on criminal law and another on criminal procedure.

But the circumstances had made it difficult to proceed on those publications and I hope those instructors teaching law at UTG will be looking at not only those two areas but other areas of law and try to produce some publications which somehow highlight the local jurisprudence on that particular branches of the law.

As the Chief Prosecutor of the UN back War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha Tanzania, what does your job entail?

Well the tribunal was set up by the UN Security Council in 1994 with the mandate to prosecute those responsible for serious violation of human rights, and humanitarian law in Rwanda. You will recall that a genocide had occurred in Rwanda between April to July in 1994 resulting in the death of just over a million people, mostly Tutsis. So our mandate is to prosecute those responsible for the murders. Currently we are operating on a conclusion face of our cases in the first instance by the end of this year and for the appeal cases by the end of 2010 and then close down.

So far, we have completed the cases of 35 accused persons all of whom were senior members in the former Rwandan government out of which 29 have been convicted and the rest acquitted. We are currently in the trial face of another 24 accused and we have waiting in the wing another 9 accuse persons. We expect to finish most of the ongoing trials before the end of this year but some of the cases will go into 2009.

What is the relationship between the tribunal and the Rwandan government because at one time it criticise the tribunal for its ‘slow pace’ trial?

The relationship with the Rwandan government is presently very good. We continue to receive cooperation from them as most of our witnesses come from there.

We are given access to sites where the crimes occurred. At the moment we have a very good partnership as the tribunal is helping in developing the capacity of their legal system.

Our current completion strategy is on the transfer of cases to national jurisdictions. That is the transfer of some of our cases that does not involve high level persons to national jurisdictions where there is adequate guarantee of a fair trial and where the death penalty will not be applied. Rwanda is one of the jurisdictions and the request has been made for such cases to be transferred to Rwanda and we are waiting for a reply.

So it is a manifestation of the confidence we have in the justice system in Rwanda for a fair trial.

By doing so, don’t you think the tribunal is failing in its responsibilities of ensuring a fair trial. This is because many are of the view that the Rwandan government might not give a fair trial to genocide suspects?

No! our mandate includes investigation of all allegations against members of the former Rwandan government. This is a mandate we are carrying on. So sending cases to Rwanda does not mean the suspect there cannot get a fair trial. Rwanda has been trying more genocide cases than any other country.

The process there has been seen as free and fair. When we refer our cases to Rwanda it will be monitored by independent observers who will report back to us as to whether the status of fair trial has taken place. So if they thought fair trial has not taken place, our own rules permit us to take the cases back to Arusha. So there are safeguards to make sure that if the cases are not properly prosecuted it will be brought to a halt. This is in respect of any other country we refer our cases to, not only Rwanda as we have referred cases to France and the Netherlands.

Did you at any given time, as the chief prosecutor, you fault in your decision at the tribunal?

Well, there are always things that you feel that you can do better given another opportunity. Many people have been involve in the Rwandan genocide and are freely moving around the world and we cannot prosecute them simply because our mandate will end in 2010.

We will not be able to prosecute those suspects and we are now encouraging countries where these people are residing to ensure that they do not go scot-free.

This brings me to a project we are working on called “The Best Practices Project”. We’ve been trying to identify not only the Rwandan Tribunal but also the Yugoslav Tribunal, the experiences of investigation and prosecution that we have had over the past decade or so to try and see what are the challenges and the good lessons to learn. In that, we hope to give a good lesson to the International Criminal Court which will take over in this particular area. So undoubtedly there will be lessons to learn.

No legal system is perfect particularly in international law, one which has to deal with cases which occurred in another country.

The perception many in this country have is that once you are an employee of UN you are automatically rich for you are highly paid in dollars. So as a top UN official are you rich?

(Laughs) I am far from being rich. I think I will probably be wealthy if I continue my practice as a private legal practitioner and consultant. The United Nations doesn’t make you wealthy, it takes good care of its employees, but it does not make you wealthy at all.

You succeeded your father the Late Alhaji Zaid Bubacarr Jallow as the Caliph of the Jallow dynasty of Bansang, a post that demands a high sense of responsibility. How are you able to effectively carry out this function simultaneously with your other position as the chief prosecutor at the UN tribunal?

It was God’s destiny that I succeed my late father as Caliph. You will recalled that he was a teacher, a writer who taught a lot of people of this sub region. He left behind a wide network of followers in The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Conakry etc. So I have to carry out the responsibility effectively with the support of the family, followers, to share the burden. The daily activities of the Caliphate is run by senior followers and my brothers. Even far from here I continue to monitor the activities of the Caliphate.

Are we looking to a day when you will make a full return to Bansang to settle down as the Caliph?

Inshallah, we look forward to that happening. The assignment in Arusha is a temporal one, it is also God’s work as it is meant to bring justice to people who are wronged. So after that I look forward to settle in Bansang and continue with the late Sheikh’s works.

Your last word?

I am back here on this occasion for the “Mawlud Nabi” Prophet Muhammed’s birthday which is annually celebrated by the caliphate. Every year when it is time for the Mawlud Nabi I come back to The Gambia. I also come for the Bansang annual Ziyareh.