By Seedy Jobe
The Gambia Environmental Alliance (GEA) has strongly criticized the Government of The Gambia for abstaining from a key United Nations General Assembly vote on climate change and human rights held on 20 May 2026, describing the decision as a serious lapse in leadership and a failure to protect vulnerable citizens.
A total of 141 countries voted in favour of the resolution, which endorses the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on climate change and human rights. Eight countries voted against, while 28—including The Gambia—abstained.
In a statement issued on the same day, the GEA expressed “profound outrage and deep concern” over the government’s position, emphasizing the significance of the resolution.
“This was not a symbolic gesture,” the alliance stated. “The ICJ advisory opinion definitively affirms that states have legally binding obligations to prevent environmental harm, to act with urgency on the climate crisis, and to be held accountable for failures that violate the rights of present and future generations. The Gambia was silent at the most consequential climate accountability moment in a generation.”
GEA Secretary General Muhammed Hydara described the abstention as a direct disservice to Gambians already facing the effects of climate change.
“This abstention is not a diplomatic nuance. It is an abandonment of the very people this government is sworn to protect,” he said..
Hydara highlighted the country’s acute vulnerability to climate impacts, noting coastal erosion, increasing salinity in freshwater sources, declining agricultural productivity in regions such as the Central River Region and North Bank, and the collapse of fishing livelihoods. He added that communities in Gunjur, Kartong, and Barra are already experiencing displacement. “The climate crisis is not a distant abstraction for The Gambia; it is an unfolding emergency,” he stressed.
The alliance further argued that the government’s abstention weakened its own position at a critical time when the international community was strengthening legal mechanisms to hold major polluters accountable.
“At the precise moment the international community strengthened the legal framework to hold major polluters accountable and protect frontline nations like ours, our government stepped away,” the statement read. “It denied our people the full force of international law. It weakened our own hands.”
GEA also rejected suggestions that the abstention reflected a broader African bloc position, pointing out that several African countries, including Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso, played leading roles in drafting and introducing the resolution.
“The Gambia’s silence cannot be justified by invoking a non-existent regional consensus,” the alliance said. “It stands in stark contrast to the leadership shown by many African states and represents a uniquely Gambian failure that requires a clear explanation.”
The organization is now calling on the government to provide immediate clarification regarding the decision-making process behind the abstention.
“Who within the government made the decision to abstain, and at what level was it authorised? On what legal, political, or diplomatic grounds was this abstention based?” the alliance said.
GEA warned that abstaining from the vote sends a troubling message to affected communities. “When the government chose not to cast a vote, it effectively told those communities that their struggles do not deserve representation on the global stage. That is unacceptable,” the statement noted. “Silence at this level is not neutrality; it is a quiet form of violence against those already suffering.”
The alliance pledged to continue pressing for accountability and urged civil society, the media, traditional authorities, and faith-based organizations to join in demanding answers.
“This is not an issue that can be ignored or downplayed,” GEA stated. “Climate justice is not a peripheral foreign policy concern—it is central to the survival and livelihoods of millions of Gambians today and for generations to come.”
Reaffirming its commitment, the alliance concluded: “The silence observed in New York will not be replicated at home. GEA will speak. The people will speak. And the government must answer.”
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