Experts of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances Praise Gabon for Efforts to Align the Criminal Code with the Convention, Raise Questions on Alleged Arbitrary Arrest of Former President’s Family and Allegations of Indigenous Peoples Regularly Being Victims of Disappearance
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today concluded its consideration of additional information on the report of Gabon on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Committee Experts praised the State’s efforts to bring its Criminal Code fully in line with the Convention, while raising questions about the alleged arbitrary arrest or detention of former President Bongo’s family, and allegations of indigenous peoples regularly being victims of disappearance.
Yakouma Jean De Dieu Bambara, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, praised Gabon’s efforts to bring about legislative reform, including the reform of the Criminal Code to bring it fully in step with the Convention.
Marina Eudes, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked if more information could be provided on the other members of former President Bongo’s family? What investigations or police proceedings had been undertaken regarding allegations of arbitrary arrest or detention suffered by certain members of the family? Other Experts asked for details on the alleged detention and torture of the family who had brought forward a procedure in France and if they had been subject to house arrest and incommunicado detention.
Ms. Eudes also said the Committee had been informed of allegations that members of indigenous groups were regularly victims of disappearance. Were there figures available on this or a register which recorded disappearance? Could families report these cases to the police, even if they did not speak the same language, and could they receive updates on the cases? Another Expert asked what was being done to ensure indigenous peoples were not invisible and subject to enforced disappearance, including through increasing prevalence of birth registration.
Introducing the additional information, Rita Barreau Kambangoye, Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations Office at Geneva and head of the delegation, said the review came at a pivotal moment for Gabon, following the large-scale institutional reforms undertaken over the past three years. Enforced disappearance had been introduced and enshrined as an autonomous and specific offence in Gabon’s criminal legislation, with the definition faithfully incorporating all the constituent elements of the Convention. Additionally, the sentencing regime for this crime had been considerably strengthened.
Responding to questions on the family of the former President, the delegation said there had been no procedures initiated against the Bongo family and there had been no complaint received. Sylvia Bongo and her son were charged with financial crimes under ordinary jurisdiction. Another family member had been prosecuted for illegal firearms and eventually freed, but this was a separate case.
The delegation said Gabon had not recorded any allegations of enforced disappearance against indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples spoke many languages, including French, Gabon’s national language. They had access to complaints mechanisms and could lodge complaints. Judicial authorities had campaigns for mobile birth registration and often travelled to the far-flung regions of the country, meeting with indigenous peoples and those who had been unable to declare a birth. Procedures were free of charge.
In concluding remarks, Ms. Barreau Kambangoye thanked the Committee for the constructive dialogue which had been a valuable analytical mirror, enabling the State to assess the progress made and pinpoint the challenges.
In his concluding remarks, Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro, Committee Chairperson, said the Committee stood ready to help and work with Gabon, all States parties, the victims of enforced disappearance, and all actors in the struggle to combat the scourge of enforced disappearance.
The delegation of Gabon consisted of the Director General of Human Rights; the Director General of Criminal Affairs; the Deputy Public Prosecutor; as well as representatives from the General Directorate of Documentation and Immigration and the Permanent Mission of Gabon to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Webcasts of the meetings of the session can be found here, and meetings summaries can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 17 September, to consider the list of issues of Belize in the absence of a report (CED/C/BLZ/QAR/1).
Report
The Committee has before it additional information on the report of Gabon (CED/C/GAB/A1/1).
Presentation of Additional Information
RITA BARREAU KAMBANGOYE, Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and head of the delegation, said the review came at a pivotal moment for Gabon, following the large-scale institutional reforms undertaken over the past three years, which placed the rebuilding of the rule of law, justice and the fight against impunity at the heart of the Government's roadmap. Gabon had undertaken major legislative reforms to harmonise its Penal Code and its Code of Criminal Procedure.
Enforced disappearance had been introduced and enshrined as an autonomous and specific offence in Gabon’s criminal legislation, with the definition faithfully incorporating all the constituent elements of the Convention. Additionally, the sentencing regime for this crime had been considerably strengthened. Enforced disappearance was now punished by severe and proportionate criminal penalties, up to and including life imprisonment when the crime was committed in aggravating circumstances, particularly if the victim was a minor, a pregnant woman or a person in a situation of increased vulnerability. The courts may also order the confiscation of the income and other benefits derived from it, unless the owners established the lawful origin or lack of connection between the property and the offence. The offence of enforced disappearance now fell under the exclusive jurisdiction of the ordinary courts.
The police custody regime had also been reviewed, in particular by making the time of communication between the person in police custody and his lawyer unlimited.
Regarding the death of the second petty officer of the national navy, the judicial investigation had led to indictments within the chain of command of the General Directorate of Counterintelligence and Military Security. One officer and seven non-commissioned officers directly involved in the interrogation session were prosecuted before the civilian and military courts and placed in preventive detention for acts of torture resulting in death. As for the case of the family of President Ali Bongo, Gabon rigorously denied these accusations. The proceedings against Mrs. Sylvia Bongo and her son Noureddine Bongo were exclusively for major financial crimes, and the preventive detentions had been recorded in a transparent manner in accordance with the Criminal Code of Procedure.
Gabon had reached a historic milestone with the adoption, by Parliament, of law no. 023/2024 of November 21, 2024, on the reorganisation of the National Human Rights Commission. This innovative text, designed to fully comply the national institution with the Paris Principles, gave it total statutory, financial and operational independence. It also gave it the functions of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture, giving the Commission a reinforced public order mandate to eradicate secret detentions.
Gabon had also designed and deployed a harmonised and unified register of places of deprivation of liberty, with the support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This was a standardised document, whose matrix and requirements were rigorously identical for all law enforcement forces throughout the national territory. The failure to register or any falsification of data exposed the responsible officer to disciplinary sanctions of the highest order.
The major innovation of Gabon’s preventive policy lay in the interconnection of the judicial and penitentiary services through the ongoing deployment of a detainee management application. This centralised and secure computer system was currently being implemented at the central prison of Libreville. This tool meant that magistrates had an automatic alert system and oversight, which highlighted irregularities in detention or any exceedance of the legal time limits for pre-trial detention.
Today, all medical establishments and hospitals in Gabon had a strict obligation to issue birth certificates free of charge, without delay and at source. Gabon also paid particular attention to the protection of vulnerable children, in particular through the strict supervision of adoption procedures. Additionally, the strict application of the Civil Code required that the adoption be validated only after prior reception in the adoptive parents' home, meaning there needed to be supervision on the national territory prior to any final judgement.
The Gabonese Government had formalised and made the integration of the human rights training manual mandatory within the official educational curricula. The five teaching modules aimed to ensure that each official and recruit was fully familiar with the international rules relating to the rights of detainees, the strict obligation to refuse any unlawful order of enforced disappearance, and the direct criminal responsibility incurred by the perpetrators. Additionally, the examination of the declaration of acceptance of individual communications was actively underway.
The progress described testified to dynamic progress and an unfailing political will on the part of the Gabonese Republic. However, Gabon was fully aware of the logistical, financial and technical challenges that remained, and looked forward to the Committee’s comments, constructive criticism and future recommendations.
Questions by Committee Experts
MARINA EUDES, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, thanked the members of the delegation of Gabon for their presence and appreciated the effort. Concerning the jurisdiction of the Committee to receive individual communications, Gabon had accepted similar jurisdiction for several other human rights treaty bodies. What was the time period for the adoption of the declaration on the Committee receiving communications?
YAKOUMA JEAN DE DIEU BAMBARA, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, praised Gabon’s efforts to bring legislative reform, including the reform of the Criminal Code, to bring it fully in step with the Convention. Had the Criminal Code been finally adopted or was it still a draft law? If it had been adopted, what were the legislative reference codes for it?
In November 2024, the law had been adopted bringing about the organizational restructuring of the National Human Rights Commission. This reform was an important step towards creating an institutional framework for protecting human rights in the country, and the Committee hailed it. Had the members of the Commission been selected and appointed, in line with the provisions of the new law? If so, what was the current make-up of the Commission? Was it fully functional and what resources did it have? Was it able to carry out its mandate independently in line with the Paris Principles?
Was the national torture preventive mechanism set up within the Commission? Did Gabon envisage the accreditation of its Commission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions? If so, what measures had been planned so that could happen? The law on the protection of human rights defenders had been adopted by the Senate but not promulgated; where did things stand with this law?
What had been done by Gabon to uphold the principle of non-refoulement? Was it explicitly enshrined in Gabon’s legislation in terms that expressly covered enforced disappearance? What legislative measures were in place to formally prohibit the expulsion, refoulement or extradition of a person to a country if there were substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being forcibly disappeared there? Was there a mechanism for the automatic individual examination of the risks of enforced disappearance in the event of expulsion or extradition of persons? Could a person appeal the decision for expulsion and did it have suspensive effect. Mr. Bambara noted the case of Ramon Cotta, a Cameroonian national whose arrest and allegations of extradition to Cameroon were concerning. Could more details be provided on this?
The Committee welcomed the efforts made on birth registration in Gabon; what was the rate of the registration of children in the civil registry in Gabon? What specific measures did Gabon plan to take for vulnerable children born in the most remote areas to ensure they were promptly registered after birth?
MARINA EUDES, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, asked if the police authorities had been sensitised or trained to integrate the guiding principles on the search for missing persons developed by the Committee in 2019? Could more information be provided on the cases of TikTokker Ramon Cotta, as well as the Bongo family and Johan Bounda? Regarding the Bounda case, had the officers been sentenced and if so, what sentences did they receive? Could more information be provided on the other members of the Bongo family? What investigations or police proceedings had been undertaken regarding allegations of arbitrary arrest or detention suffered by certain members of the family?
Had Gabon sought to obtain an overview of the situation of ritual crimes? Were there figures regarding this practice? Had the victims been sought by the police and found? Had there been judicial proceedings on the basis of the ritual crimes? If there were victims of ritual crimes who complained to the police, what methods of reparations were available to them or their family members?
The Committee had been informed of allegations of arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention targeting various human rights defenders. What measures had been adopted by the State since the meeting with the Committee against Torture to address this issue? When would Gabon adopt specific legislation on protecting human rights defenders? Was it possible to undertake investigations into enforced disappearance even if no official complaint had been made?
The Committee had been informed of allegations that members of indigenous groups were regularly victims of disappearance. Were there figures available on this or a register which recorded disappearance? Could families report these cases to the police, even if they did not speak the same language, and could they receive updates on the cases?
A Committee Expert asked additional questions, including what specific actions had been taken in regard to women and children who had disappeared; if there had been early warning measures in this regard; if there was a function which allowed women to control the property of the disappeared person as the spouse; if there was an intention to amend the Human Rights Commission act to remove the provision preventing lawyers and doctors from serving as members; details on the alleged detention and torture of the Bongo family who had brought forward a procedure in France; and if they had been subject to house arrest and incommunicado detention.
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said measures were underway for accepting the communications procedure. The Criminal Code had not yet been adopted because the reform was still underway, but this was a work in progress. A law had been adopted and enacted on the Human Rights Commission, which had resulted in a call for candidates. The law had been reformed to ensure that doctors and lawyers could serve on the Commission. Among the nine Commissioners, three would work on the national preventive mechanism and have a specific mandate. The Commission had a significant budget and there was an autonomous budget for the mechanism.
Any person subject to extradition could appeal the decision. Administrative practices in Gabon prevented the expulsion to a State if there was a chance that the person would become a victim of enforced disappearance. There had been numerous events addressing vulnerable migrants and 150 interviews had been held which facilitated the protection of these individuals. A national system was in place for trafficking in persons and vulnerable migrants and standard operating procedures had been implemented for dealing with this group.
Following the reform, Gabon had introduced a specific article explicitly protecting human rights defenders, which was a first. All threats against members of civil society organizations and their family members would be subjected to immediate investigation. A legal cooperation framework had been institutionalised with civil society. A law had been adopted which was initiated by human rights defenders themselves.
Regarding the Bounda case, the individuals had not yet been prosecuted, but the sentences were likely to be up to 20 years. There had been no procedures initiated against the Bongo family and there had been no complaint received. Apart from Sylvia Bongo and her son, no other family member had been prosecuted or arrested.
In the past, there had been cases of ritual crimes, but there had not been any recorded for some time.
There had been concerns relating to human rights defenders in the recent past; however, this had not been related to arrests. In line with the Constitution, which guaranteed the protection of human rights defenders, the State had not recorded any cases of human rights defenders who had expressed concerns at the topics raised by the Committee.
Gabon had not recorded any allegations of enforced disappearance against indigenous peoples. However, in 2022, as part of field work carried out by the Taskforce on Migration, there had been one case of child trafficking discovered who had been identified and cared for. Indigenous peoples in Gabon lived in co-existence with the Bantu (others), and there was no language barrier between indigenous peoples and the other. Indigenous peoples spoke many languages, including French, Gabon’s national language. Indigenous peoples had access to complaints mechanisms and could lodge complaints. Indigenous peoples in Gabon were well integrated and were even part of the military; their intimate knowledge of the forest enabled them to join an elite core of the army.
Ongoing training was held with the judicial police officers, and they were regularly called upon to take ownership of human rights issues and implement them. In 2025, the Gabonese Government had envisaged several training sessions, including on the register presented in the opening remarks, as well as the Mendes Protocols relating to questioning.
Follow-up Questions
Committee Experts asked follow-up questions, including on ritual crimes and what measures had been taken to investigate them; if loved ones been able to receive compensation for these crimes; if the issue of two Human Rights Commissioners would pose a threat to the institution’s functioning; the link between civil society and the national preventive mechanism; if there was a mechanism planned within these institutions for protecting human rights defenders; how investigations had been conducted into cases of women who could be victims of enforced disappearance; if the Bongo family had been free to move around during the period discussed; what measures could be taken if a death certificate was not issued for the family; and whether the Bongo family had been placed under house arrest or not.
Other questions asked what was being done to ensure that indigenous peoples were not invisible and subject to enforced disappearance, including through increasing prevalence of birth registration; how it was ensured that the State could track indigenous children even if they did not have a birth certificate or identity documents; how mobile civil status operations were being regularly integrated into State services; the Ramon Cotta case; and if the application for registering detainees could be used for the military service and the gendarmerie.
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said there had been a reduction in ritual crimes. It was difficult to give precise figures. If perpetrators were found guilty, they were required to pay compensation to the victim. Once someone had not returned home for a few days, then an investigation could be launched. There were a variety of civil society organizations in the country which operated in the areas of enforced disappearance. Civil society organizations had drafted the text for the protection of human rights defenders, before bringing it before legislators. Civil society organizations also provided some level of support to the mandate of the Human Rights Commission. There was currently no follow-up mechanism for human rights defenders. Gabon looked forward to the National Human Rights Commission being implemented and hoped it would be effective. Within the reform of the Commission, the State had sought to implement the Paris Principles.
Women were required to undergo procedures with the bank to be given access to a disappeared husband’s bank account, and certain documents were also required for this, which could create issues. The country had a focus on gender-based violence. Regarding the case of a woman who had been attacked by her husband in the security forces, the perpetrator had been apprehended and an investigation was underway. There was no gender specific approach in cases of enforced disappearance.
The interconnection of nine prisons in Gabon through the new digital system was already quite a challenge. The new application currently covered all prisons and the various jurisdictions. Fifteen days before the legal deadline for pretrial detention was up, a warning system was activated. The State was seeking how to use this in the context of enforced disappearances, to broaden this to other places of detention.
Sylvia Bongo and her son were charged with financial crimes under ordinary jurisdiction. The State could not comment on the other members of the family who were with Mr. Bongo at the Residence. Another family had been prosecuted for illegal firearms and eventually freed, but this was a separate case.
If a husband was missing, the family needed to turn to the courts to ensure the spouse could access the husband’s finances and estate.
Gabon had taken measures to overcome the problem of those without birth certificates. The legal timeline for birth registration was 15 days in urban areas and one month in rural areas. As of now, there was an obligation to issue a birth certificate in hospitals. Previously, families had been required to travel to the Town Hall to register the births, which was difficult. There was no distinction drawn between indigenous peoples and “the others”. Indigenous peoples who primarily lived in rural areas, benefitted from the same procedure. Assistants travelled to municipalities to register births for those living in rural areas.
All places of deprivation of liberty were concerned by the register, apart from the psychiatric centre, as the State was still considering the focus to be placed on the register.
Judicial authorities often had campaigns for mobile registration and travelled to the far-flung regions of the country, meeting with indigenous peoples and those who had been unable to declare a birth. Procedures were free of charge.
Closing Statements
RITA BARREAU KAMBANGOYE, Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations Office at Geneva, thanked the Committee for the constructive dialogue which had been a valuable analytical mirror, enabling the State to assess the progress made and pinpoint the challenges. Gabon had provided factual answers without hiding the difficulties the country faced on the ground. The delegation noted the Committee’s concerns and looked forward to receiving their recommendations.
JUAN PABLO ALBÁN ALENCASTRO, Committee Chairperson, thanked Gabon for the constructive dialogue. The Committee stood ready to help and work with Gabon and all States parties, the victims of enforced disappearance, and all actors in the struggle to combat the scourge of enforced disappearance.
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