Presidential and parliamentary elections returned President Dawda Jawara to office for a fifth term in 1992. Also in 1992, the government announced an amnesty for coup plotters who had participated in an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1981. There have been some reports by Amnesty International of ill-treatment of prisoners in custody by police officers, but abuse of prisoners is not endemic and police are held accountable.
Prison conditions are below standard and prisoners receive inadequate medical care and nutrition.
Despite the fact that the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the regional African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies are based in Gambia, the local human rights community is small. The International Society for Human Rights is the main organization, and its stress is human rights education work. There is little or no documentation or advocacy work being done in the Gambia, and that is a gap that should be filled. A unique organization in many ways, the Centre was established by the Gambian government soon after the the establishment of the African Commission. It was set up in 1989 as a regional organization to cooperate with other African and international institutions on human rights issues.