Media freedom and disappearance in the Gambia

Today the TUC, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Journalists took part in a global day of action in favour of press freedom in the Gambia, and to call for the Gambian authorities to release journalist Ebrima Manneh. We visited the FCO to talk to ofiicials about what can be done.

The tripartite delegation was joined by Gambian Press Union Vice President Sarata Jabbi, whose bravery I've covered elsewhere.

We pressed the FCO to make maximum use of the Commonwealth, the UN Human Rights Periodic Review, and the European Union to put pressure on the Gambian government. And we thanked them for the work done by the British High Commissioner in Banjul, who last year sat in on the trial of six Gambian journalists for sedition, to make it clear Britain was watching (the US Ambassador did the same).

Sixty thousand British tourists visit the West African nation every year – how many of them realise that this is a country where the m edia is not free and journalists and their unions are regularly harassed and sometimes worse?

Owen Tudor