The newly-inaugurated President of The Gambia promised [Al Jazeera report] Saturday to end human rights violations in his country and ordered the release [tweet] of 171 inmates who had been detained without a trial. President Adama Barrow’s [BBC profile] inauguruation speech restated the emphasis he will place on human rights and the rule of law in the small west-African nation. Barrow’s speech was well-received by the international community. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson [official profile] called it [tweet] a “momentous day for the Gambian people and democracy in Africa.”

Barrow recently announced that The Gambia will stay in [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], whose primary purpose is “trying individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Barrow’s predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, had said that The Gambia would leave the ICC. Barrow’s election results were hotly contested by Jammeh, who filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit seeking an injunction barring Barrow’s inauguration in January. Jammeh also challenged [JURIST report] the election results in January before The Gambia’s Supreme Court, but the court delayed hearing the suit until May. In another attempt to hold power, Jammeh declared [JURIST report] a state of emergency in January, a month after Barrow won the presidential election.