Liberia’s history has been punctuated by intervals of profound social upheaval underscored by injustice and serious human rights violations. These dynamics in large components led to two devastating civil wars within the remaining 30 years. This question and answer file address the abuses dedicated for the duration of those wars and efforts to bring those responsible to justice, consisting of thru a proposed battle crimes courtroom.
1. What international crimes were devoted in Liberia for the duration of its civil wars?
2. Has everyone confronted justice for those crimes?
3. Why is justice for Liberia’s past atrocity crimes vital?
4. Why is duty a difficulty now, 15 years after the civil wars?
5. How do justice and efforts to reap social healing intersect?
6. What options are available for accountability in Liberia?
7. What did Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission propose for addressing warfare crimes and other global crimes dedicated throughout the conflicts?
8. What would an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia do?
9. Who could be a problem to trial by the Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia?
10. How would the Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia be set up?
11. Who might serve at the Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia?
12. Would there be a witness safety program?
13. How must information approximately the warfare crimes court docket be disseminated?
14. What is President Weah’s position on prosecutions for past crimes?
15. What has the global community stated about judicial duty for crimes in Liberia?
16. Is a referendum in Liberia had to determine whether or not to establish a war crimes courtroom?
17. Will justice threaten stability in Liberia?
18. What immediate steps must the Liberian government take to carry justice for beyond crimes?
19. How become Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission created, and what became its mandate?
20. What did the TRC do?
1. What global crimes had been devoted in Liberia at some point in its civil wars?
Liberia’s civil wars (1989-1996 and 1999-2003) had been characterized by using full-size and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian regulation. Domestic and worldwide human rights groups, overseas embassies, the media, and the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) diagnosed precis executions, massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and forced conscription and use of baby fighters many of the several cases of abuse.
Crimes have been dedicated using contributors to all the events to the battle, consisting of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), ULIMO-K, ULIMO-J, Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), Liberian Peace Council (LPC), the government of Liberia (such as diverse security forces), militias and the authorities-sponsored Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model), Lofa Defense Force, and Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).
Liberian men, girls, and kids had been gunned down in their homes, villages, marketplaces, and places of worship. In a few instances, hundreds of civilians had been massacred in a remember of hours. Girls and ladies were subjected to bad sexual violence such as rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, torture, and outrages on non-public dignity. Villages were destroyed and looted. Children have been abducted from their homes and colleges and pressed into the provider, often after witnessing the murder of their dad and mom. The violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and displaced nearly half of the population. The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), a multinational navy force deployed to Liberia in 1990, become implicated in the looting, harassment, and arbitrary detention of civilians and indiscriminate airstrikes towards civilians and civilian systems.
2. Has all of us confronted justice for those crimes?
Liberia has no longer prosecuted a single man or woman for the grave crimes committed at some point in its armed conflicts. The few instances involving civil war-technology crimes have all happened out of doors Liberia before the United States and European courts. Authorities have been pursuing instances under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows country-wide courts to try worldwide crimes dedicated abroad with the aid of non-nationals in opposition to different non-nationals. They have additionally delivered cases for crimes related to immigration, consisting of lying on immigration forms about involvement in abuses in Liberia.
In 2008, a United States federal court docket convicted Chuckie Taylor, former head of the ATU and son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, of torture. US courts additionally convicted the former ULIMO leader, Mohammed Jabbateh, and the NPFL spokesman, Jucontee Thomas Smith Woewiyu, for fraud and perjury related to their failure to reveal to US immigration authorities their involvement in alleged wartime crimes. Moses Thomas also faces a civil lawsuit inside the US. Sufferers filed a complaint in opposition to him for allegedly ordering extrajudicial killings, torture, conflict crimes, and crimes against humanity.
In 2014, the Belgium government arrested Martina Johnson, former commander of the NPFL, for her alleged role in battle crimes. In 2017, United Kingdom authorities indicted Agnes Reeves Taylor for her alleged role in torture in Liberia between December 1989 and January 1991. In 2018, the French government arrested Kunti Kamara, a former ULIMO commander, in Paris for alleged battle crimes devoted in Liberia. On March 26, 2019, the Swiss government announced the indictment of Alieu Josiah, a former ULIMO commander, for worldwide crimes. These instances have yet to proceed to trial.
The cases had been spurred with the aid of civil society efforts, which include collaboration between the Monrovia-based Global Justice and Research Project and the Geneva-primarily based Civitas Maxima, and by using the San Francisco-primarily based Center for Justice and Accountability. The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone tried and convicted Charles Taylor in 2012 for grave crimes committed in Sierra Leone and sentenced him to 50 years in prison.
3. Why is justice for Liberia’s beyond atrocity crimes major?
Fair, credible crook trials of the worst crimes are important to building admiration for the rule of regulation and durable peace in Liberia. International law mandates trials for worldwide crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture. Liberia is a national celebration of fundamental international treaties along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, which obligate Liberia to uphold certain minimum standards and ensure that extreme violations of human rights and struggle crimes are appropriately investigated and prosecuted.
