http://www.analystliberia.com/trc_success_depends_june23.html
The Officer-In-Charge of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Mr. Luiz Carlos da Costa said the success of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is dependent on the provision of resources beyond what the government and people of Liberia can afford.
His statement is against the backdrop of the task before the commission, which was officially launched by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Speaking at the Centennial Pavilion during the launch of the TRC yesterday, he repeated appeal to the international community to provide all the necessary support towards the successful completion of the task of the commission.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been very contributive financially to the TRC, something which Mr. da Costa recognized in his statement.
“UNDP is the first organization to provide substantial funding in the tone of US$600,000 and to commit so early to ensure the success of the TRC,” he said amidst applause. At the same time, the UNMIL acting chief recognized the task before the Commission, which according to him is not an easy one.
He told Liberians what the commission will do as it begins operations: “It is not only to examine the past, but also to delve into what caused communities to turn against one another and people to go against their neighbors.”
“The Commission will also need to come with recommendations to help the victims overcome their trauma,” he stressed. According to the UNMIL Officer-In-Charge, as daunting the task maybe, “we are confident that we have a TRC that has competent and committed members ready to help Liberians confront their past and resolve together their differences.”
Meanwhile, Mr. da Costa has commended members of the civil society, who, according to him, have been relentless in their efforts to see that the commission began functioning. “I must also thank them for their contribution at several stages of the evolution of this commission and am confident that their support will be even stronger as the body moves forward with its tasks,” he noted.
He also recognized the participation of Liberians as essential to the success of the TRC. “Participation of the people freely and without fear is essential to the success of the commission’s mandate, “ he said, and added “I therefore urge all Liberians to see it as an obligation to come forward before the Commission in the spirit of reconciliation and with the determination to look to the future.”
At the same time, ex-fighters in the Liberian conflict have pledged their support and cooperation with the work of the TRC. A representative of ex-combatants told Liberians that 90% of the youth population has experienced the most brutal political transformation in Liberia.
At such, he said it was time to make a comeback of senses by supporting the work of the TRC which according to stakeholders is a symbol of peace and national healing.
According to him, during this period, youths were used as agents of death and utter destruction, but noted that with the election of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as President of Liberia “they will never be used to kill and destroy our beloved country and citizens.”
What he said the youth want to see is for them to reconcile their differences and become united to ensure that they are empowered academically.
Envoys of the US, EU, ECOWAS and Sierra Leone made statements, and pledged to support the work of the TRC. They also urged Liberians to cooperate with the TRC to ensure its success.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Gov’t Formally Launches TRC , Will The Victims Please Come Forward?
Friday, June 23, 2006
Time For Truth
Liberia’s more than 158 years of political existence is a long tale of contradictions and inequities based on class system versus ethnicity. Almost with its founding came marginalization on the levels of skin color, social status, creed, and sex.
But no sooner was a system of national resistance organized against these improprieties than the nation was thrown into unending bouts of social inequities, political repression and oppression, official violence and impunity characterized by nepotism, bear-faced tyranny, witch-hunting, and the elimination of political opponents without accountability.
All this was crowned at the turn of the decade of the 1980s by the cruelest of wars that wiped the infrastructure of the nation, decimated its population, and sent millions of Liberia darting across borders.
Notwithstanding this grim history, Liberians are called upon to forget the past, but not before the truth is told and pleas of guilt heard, accepted, and documented.
But as The Analyst Staff Writer reports, the core question many Liberians are asking is, “Will the true victims come forward, and will what they reveal lead to justice or more bitterness, feelings of betrayal, and un-fulfillment?”
The government of Liberia, yesterday, formally launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) with appropriate indoor activities reportedly in all political subdivisions of the country.
Yesterday’s launch of the TRC did not only affirm the commission’s independence of action and decision, but it also opened the way for the commencement of the activities nationwide that will hopefully lead to reconciliation, the undoing of the culture of impunity, and the establishment of a new order for a sustainable democratization of the nation.
Liberians are divided over the achievability of the mandate given mainly the tenure of operation of the commission compared to the elaborateness of the mandate that include the holding of thousands of public and secret hearings involving participants that are cast across the globe.
The TRC has only two years to implement the mandate thereby reinforcing the doubts of some observers that commission will conclude its activities on time let alone to achieve the set goals.
Other observers, though, say it is too early to talk about time and achievability, insisting that Liberians have no option but to put their hopes and aspirations in the success of the TRC. The choice of the TRC over a war crime court, they insist, created a moral imperative for all Liberians to rally to the success of the processes.
Whatever the arguments and their bases, analysts say the true basis of the commission’s success lies not in what observers believe and think but squarely in how it endears itself and its programs and activities to those crucial to the reconciliation process.
According to them, it depends also on how the government of Liberia and the international stakeholders collaborate and cooperate with members of the commission to ensure adequate financial, security, and moral supports.
Basically, the commission is expected to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as opportunities for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.
This, according to the CPA, is necessary in order to maintain the spirit of national reconciliation while dealing with the root causes of the crises in Liberia, including human rights violations.
It will specifically be investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law as well as abuses that occurred between January 1979 and October 14, 2003.
Some of the abuses, according to Article IV of the Act establishing the TRC, include massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes.
Amongst acts considered under the Act as economic crimes is the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate armed conflicts. Some say there are exploitations of natural resources that predate the events of 1979 and that because of that the full story or the full line of perpetrators of economic crimes will not be established let alone to ensure true healing and forgiveness.
“Notwithstanding the period specified herein, the Commission may, on an application by any person or group of persons, pursue the objectives set out in this Article IV (Mandate of the Commission) in respect of any other period preceding 1979,” the act said in anticipation arguments that 1979 is not an appropriate starting point in probing Liberia’s problems.
The commission is expected to make elaborate use of this provision, the act says, in order to conduct a critical review of Liberia’s historical past, the goal being to establish and give recognition to historical truths in order to address falsehoods and misconceptions of the past relating to the nation’s socio-economic and political development.
This will require the commission, according to Article VII of the act creating the TRC, to determine whether or not such violations were the result of deliberate planning on the part of the state, authority, or political organization, movement or group of individuals.
It will do this by gathering, by means it deems appropriate, any information it considers relevant, including the ability to request reports, assistance of foreign governments, non-resident Liberians, records, documents or any information from any source, including governmental authorities, and to compel the production of such information as and when necessary.
A special magistrate to be appointed with the consent of the Senate will preside over the equivalence of a circuit court that will have the power to issue warrants of search and seizure, warrants of arrest for contempt, and subpoenas.
It will also issue citations to obtain information and testimonies to enable the commission to visit any establishment or place without giving prior notice, and to enter upon any land or premises for any purpose which is material to the fulfillment of its mandate and in particular, for the purpose of obtaining testimonies which may be vital to its works.
“Any person who willfully obstructs or otherwise interferes with the work of the TRC or any of its members or officers in the discharge of their functions under this Act, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not less than US $300.00 and not more than US $500.00 or its Liberian dollar equivalent for the first offence to include a term of imprisonment not less than six months or both fine and imprisonment depending on the gravity of the offence,” the act notes.
In order to endear itself to victims and perpetrators, the commission will grant immunity to all persons or groups of persons, organizations or institutions from prosecution or tort actions on account of statements made or evidence given before the TRC.
As part of the immunity, such testimonies will not be used in any court of law against the person making the statement. “Any person who has been subpoenaed or called upon to appear before the Commission may appoint a legal representative.
The Commission may in order to expedite proceedings place reasonable limitations with regard to the time allowed for cross-examination of witnesses or any address to the Commission,” the act said.
What exactly this clause means with regards to individuals currently holding constitutional immunity that may be held liable is not clear, but at the end of the process, the commission intends to help restore the human dignity of victims and promote reconciliation.
It will do so by providing opportunities for victims, witnesses, and others to give accounts of the violations and abuses suffered and for perpetrators to relate their experiences, in an environment conducive to constructive interchange between victims and perpetrators, giving special attention to the issues of sexual and gender based violence, and most especially to the experiences of children and women during armed conflicts in Liberia.
The TRC will recommend, according to the act, “amnesty under terms and conditions established by the TRC upon application of individual persons making full disclosures of their wrongs and thereby expressing remorse for their acts and/or omissions, whether as an accomplice or a perpetrator, provided that amnesty or exoneration shall not apply to violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity in conformity with international laws and standards.”
Meanwhile the Chairman of TRC, Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier, Sr., has warned Liberians against ignoring or compromising the realities of Liberia’s past that led to the establishment of the commission.
According to him the realties that include the prejudice of the class or status, nepotism and the tendencies to regroup, the culture of impunity, the scourge of illiteracy and ignorance, and leadership without compassion, have grossly undermined the security and development of this country since its founding.
“The TRC process will be open, transparent, and accountable to all, including Liberians abroad,” he said, disclosing that yesterday’s launch of the commission proceeded simultaneously throughout the country in order to establish from the onset that the process is not a Monrovia-based affair.
He then assured all Liberians and friends of Liberia that there would not be witch-hunting but that the process would be scrupulously carried out to unravel and document the truth in vigorous pursuit of the commission’s goals.
“We will take advantage of the wisdom of our traditional and religious leaders and explore all means to incorporate them into the processes of the TRC,” Cllr. Verdier said when he spoke at the launch of the commission yesterday.
If the wisdom of traditional leaders is circumspectly blended with the safety-guides contained in the Act establishing the TRC, observers say, there is no question that the testimonies of the victims and the pleas of guilt of the perpetrators are bound to lead to the creation of the environments of security and justice and to the drudgery of more bitterness, feelings of betrayal, and un-fulfillment.
Time For Truth
Liberia’s more than 158 years of political existence is a long tale of contradictions and inequities based on class system versus ethnicity. Almost with its founding came marginalization on the levels of skin color, social status, creed, and sex.
But no sooner was a system of national resistance organized against these improprieties than the nation was thrown into unending bouts of social inequities, political repression and oppression, official violence and impunity characterized by nepotism, bear-faced tyranny, witch-hunting, and the elimination of political opponents without accountability.
All this was crowned at the turn of the decade of the 1980s by the cruelest of wars that wiped the infrastructure of the nation, decimated its population, and sent millions of Liberia darting across borders.
Notwithstanding this grim history, Liberians are called upon to forget the past, but not before the truth is told and pleas of guilt heard, accepted, and documented.
But as The Analyst Staff Writer reports, the core question many Liberians are asking is, “Will the true victims come forward, and will what they reveal lead to justice or more bitterness, feelings of betrayal, and un-fulfillment?”
The government of Liberia, yesterday, formally launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) with appropriate indoor activities reportedly in all political subdivisions of the country.
Yesterday’s launch of the TRC did not only affirm the commission’s independence of action and decision, but it also opened the way for the commencement of the activities nationwide that will hopefully lead to reconciliation, the undoing of the culture of impunity, and the establishment of a new order for a sustainable democratization of the nation.
Liberians are divided over the achievability of the mandate given mainly the tenure of operation of the commission compared to the elaborateness of the mandate that include the holding of thousands of public and secret hearings involving participants that are cast across the globe.
The TRC has only two years to implement the mandate thereby reinforcing the doubts of some observers that commission will conclude its activities on time let alone to achieve the set goals.
Other observers, though, say it is too early to talk about time and achievability, insisting that Liberians have no option but to put their hopes and aspirations in the success of the TRC. The choice of the TRC over a war crime court, they insist, created a moral imperative for all Liberians to rally to the success of the processes.
Whatever the arguments and their bases, analysts say the true basis of the commission’s success lies not in what observers believe and think but squarely in how it endears itself and its programs and activities to those crucial to the reconciliation process.
According to them, it depends also on how the government of Liberia and the international stakeholders collaborate and cooperate with members of the commission to ensure adequate financial, security, and moral supports.
Basically, the commission is expected to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as opportunities for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.
This, according to the CPA, is necessary in order to maintain the spirit of national reconciliation while dealing with the root causes of the crises in Liberia, including human rights violations.
It will specifically be investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law as well as abuses that occurred between January 1979 and October 14, 2003.
Some of the abuses, according to Article IV of the Act establishing the TRC, include massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes.
Amongst acts considered under the Act as economic crimes is the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate armed conflicts. Some say there are exploitations of natural resources that predate the events of 1979 and that because of that the full story or the full line of perpetrators of economic crimes will not be established let alone to ensure true healing and forgiveness.
“Notwithstanding the period specified herein, the Commission may, on an application by any person or group of persons, pursue the objectives set out in this Article IV (Mandate of the Commission) in respect of any other period preceding 1979,” the act said in anticipation arguments that 1979 is not an appropriate starting point in probing Liberia’s problems.
The commission is expected to make elaborate use of this provision, the act says, in order to conduct a critical review of Liberia’s historical past, the goal being to establish and give recognition to historical truths in order to address falsehoods and misconceptions of the past relating to the nation’s socio-economic and political development.
This will require the commission, according to Article VII of the act creating the TRC, to determine whether or not such violations were the result of deliberate planning on the part of the state, authority, or political organization, movement or group of individuals.
It will do this by gathering, by means it deems appropriate, any information it considers relevant, including the ability to request reports, assistance of foreign governments, non-resident Liberians, records, documents or any information from any source, including governmental authorities, and to compel the production of such information as and when necessary.
A special magistrate to be appointed with the consent of the Senate will preside over the equivalence of a circuit court that will have the power to issue warrants of search and seizure, warrants of arrest for contempt, and subpoenas.
It will also issue citations to obtain information and testimonies to enable the commission to visit any establishment or place without giving prior notice, and to enter upon any land or premises for any purpose which is material to the fulfillment of its mandate and in particular, for the purpose of obtaining testimonies which may be vital to its works.
“Any person who willfully obstructs or otherwise interferes with the work of the TRC or any of its members or officers in the discharge of their functions under this Act, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not less than US $300.00 and not more than US $500.00 or its Liberian dollar equivalent for the first offence to include a term of imprisonment not less than six months or both fine and imprisonment depending on the gravity of the offence,” the act notes.
In order to endear itself to victims and perpetrators, the commission will grant immunity to all persons or groups of persons, organizations or institutions from prosecution or tort actions on account of statements made or evidence given before the TRC.
As part of the immunity, such testimonies will not be used in any court of law against the person making the statement. “Any person who has been subpoenaed or called upon to appear before the Commission may appoint a legal representative.
The Commission may in order to expedite proceedings place reasonable limitations with regard to the time allowed for cross-examination of witnesses or any address to the Commission,” the act said.
What exactly this clause means with regards to individuals currently holding constitutional immunity that may be held liable is not clear, but at the end of the process, the commission intends to help restore the human dignity of victims and promote reconciliation.
It will do so by providing opportunities for victims, witnesses, and others to give accounts of the violations and abuses suffered and for perpetrators to relate their experiences, in an environment conducive to constructive interchange between victims and perpetrators, giving special attention to the issues of sexual and gender based violence, and most especially to the experiences of children and women during armed conflicts in Liberia.
The TRC will recommend, according to the act, “amnesty under terms and conditions established by the TRC upon application of individual persons making full disclosures of their wrongs and thereby expressing remorse for their acts and/or omissions, whether as an accomplice or a perpetrator, provided that amnesty or exoneration shall not apply to violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity in conformity with international laws and standards.”
Meanwhile the Chairman of TRC, Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier, Sr., has warned Liberians against ignoring or compromising the realities of Liberia’s past that led to the establishment of the commission.
According to him the realties that include the prejudice of the class or status, nepotism and the tendencies to regroup, the culture of impunity, the scourge of illiteracy and ignorance, and leadership without compassion, have grossly undermined the security and development of this country since its founding.
“The TRC process will be open, transparent, and accountable to all, including Liberians abroad,” he said, disclosing that yesterday’s launch of the commission proceeded simultaneously throughout the country in order to establish from the onset that the process is not a Monrovia-based affair.
He then assured all Liberians and friends of Liberia that there would not be witch-hunting but that the process would be scrupulously carried out to unravel and document the truth in vigorous pursuit of the commission’s goals.
“We will take advantage of the wisdom of our traditional and religious leaders and explore all means to incorporate them into the processes of the TRC,” Cllr. Verdier said when he spoke at the launch of the commission yesterday.
If the wisdom of traditional leaders is circumspectly blended with the safety-guides contained in the Act establishing the TRC, observers say, there is no question that the testimonies of the victims and the pleas of guilt of the perpetrators are bound to lead to the creation of the environments of security and justice and to the drudgery of more bitterness, feelings of betrayal, and un-fulfillment.
Liberia Launches Truth and Reconciliation Commission
June 22, 2006
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/features/961.html
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today welcomed the launch of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), presided over by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a public ceremony in Monrovia.
Today's events marked the official start of the TRC's two-year mandate to investigate human rights abuses that occurred between 1979 and 2003. In that year, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was adopted in Accra, Ghana, ending an era of intensely violent civil strife and ushering in the first period of relative calm in more than 14 years.
"Today's ceremony emphasized a tremendous national desire to understand, reckon with, and move forward from Liberia's traumatic history," said Director Priscilla Hayner, head of the ICTJ's Liberia program and a participant at today's launch. "This marks a potentially crucial milestone in Liberia's transition-from a period of despair to a time of healing and hope-that will require the courage to face painful truths and a commitment to the pursuit of justice. It was encouraging to hear President Johnson-Sirleaf's promise to support the TRC in facing up to the complex challenge of pursuing restorative and retributive justice for Liberia-both key to addressing the needs of victims."
The TRC is composed of nine national members, all of whom were selected after a widespread consultative process and nominations from the general public in the fall of 2005, with help from a selection panel chaired by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Since its inauguration in February 2006, Commission members have been engaged in preparatory activities in advance of today's operational launch, including extensive public outreach both within the country and to the Liberian diaspora community spread throughout the world. The TRC hopes to involve those dispersed communities in the truth-telling process.
An aggressive outreach and awareness campaign is currently underway within the country, calling for widespread participation from all members of society. The Commission's chairman, attorney Jerome J. Verdier, also recently toured the United States to encourage Liberians living there to participate in the process, reflecting the TRC's strong commitment to hearing from as many victims and witnesses as possible to determine the truth about Liberia's violent past.
"To really move on from this era in our history, we need Liberians to come together in a common forum to investigate the crimes that took place, discuss our problems, and explore possible solutions," said Verdier, a key speaker at today's event. "We will need to hear the truth from as many victims and perpetrators as possible. At the same time, we recognize that for our country to move forward, the Commission will have to recommend institutional reforms, advocate the prosecution of certain crimes, and establish a firm record of the atrocities that took place here. To create a peaceful future, we will have to rewrite our own history."
Although the TRC's temporal mandate covers the period ranging from 1979 to 2003, it is also authorized to look more deeply into Liberian history to uncover and analyze social divisions, economic disparities, and other factors that may have contributed to the recent conflict.
"We must look at the deep roots of conflict in our society if we hope to address issues of impunity in our country," said Verdier. "Time cannot be a limiting factor to our investigations. We will look as far back as possible to understand what allowed such mass atrocities to take place."
Today's ceremony, attended by several hundred people, was the first in a series of events meant to generate discussion, educate, celebrate, and inform the public about the Commission. A public conference on transitional justice,
co-hosted by the ICTJ, the Liberian TRC, and a coalition of national NGOs known as the Transitional Justice Working Group, will take place on Friday, June 23. It will be followed by a national "jubilee" on June 24 and 25, featuring music, festivities, public outreach, and religious ceremonies. From June 26 to 28, the ICTJ will conduct a seminar bringing together representatives from former truth commissions to speak with members of the Liberian TRC.
The TRC will have two years to conduct its investigations. At the end of its mandate, it will have three months to produce a comprehensive final report, detailing its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Background
With the departure of former president Charles Taylor in August 2003, Liberia entered its first period of relative calm in more than 14 years. That same month, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra, Ghana, mandated the eventual creation of a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), passed into law by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June 2005. After several months of public consultations, on October 19, 2005, the names of the nine Commissioners were formally announced to the Liberian public.
Following the first elections held since the departure of former president Charles Taylor, on November 23, 2005, the National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia. In February 2006, she inaugurated the TRC, giving it three months to make preparations. From the time of her election, President Johnson-Sirleaf has publicly supported a truth-seeking and reconciliation process for Liberia.
(To read the formal act establishing the TRC, see: http://www.ictj.org/static/Africa/Liberia/liberiatrcact.eng.pdf
To view the official website of the TRC, see:
http://www.trcofliberia.org)
The ICTJ in Liberia
Since January 2004,the ICTJ has worked closely with the UN Mission in Liberia and the Transitional Justice Working Group-a coalition of national NGOs- to provide extensive advice on the creation of the TRC, as well as on all Commission-related work. In August of that year, Center staff attended a three-day workshop held in Monrovia to discuss and debate proposed TRC legislation.
ICTJ staff returned to Liberia several times during the first half of 2005 to finalize the TRC act and worked closely with civil society, the UN Mission in Liberia, and government officials to plan for the TRC's operation. In August 2005, at the invitation of ECOWAS, the Director of the ICTJ's International Policymaker's Unit, Priscilla Hayner, led a two-day training for the TRC Selection Panel. She also worked closely with civil society and others to advocate for broad public engagement in the process of nominating commissioners and for the transparency of the selection process.
In January 2006, the ICTJ established an office in Monrovia, staffed by two local consultants. Since then, it has held intensive meetings with the TRC, local NGOs, civil society, and government representatives; conducted intensive trainings on the subject of truth commissions; and has been actively engaged in establishing Liberia's security sector reform program.
(To read more about the ICTJ's work in Liberia, see: http://www.ictj.org/en/where/region1/589.html)
About the ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.
In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.
The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/features/961.html
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today welcomed the launch of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), presided over by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a public ceremony in Monrovia.
Today's events marked the official start of the TRC's two-year mandate to investigate human rights abuses that occurred between 1979 and 2003. In that year, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was adopted in Accra, Ghana, ending an era of intensely violent civil strife and ushering in the first period of relative calm in more than 14 years.
"Today's ceremony emphasized a tremendous national desire to understand, reckon with, and move forward from Liberia's traumatic history," said Director Priscilla Hayner, head of the ICTJ's Liberia program and a participant at today's launch. "This marks a potentially crucial milestone in Liberia's transition-from a period of despair to a time of healing and hope-that will require the courage to face painful truths and a commitment to the pursuit of justice. It was encouraging to hear President Johnson-Sirleaf's promise to support the TRC in facing up to the complex challenge of pursuing restorative and retributive justice for Liberia-both key to addressing the needs of victims."
The TRC is composed of nine national members, all of whom were selected after a widespread consultative process and nominations from the general public in the fall of 2005, with help from a selection panel chaired by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Since its inauguration in February 2006, Commission members have been engaged in preparatory activities in advance of today's operational launch, including extensive public outreach both within the country and to the Liberian diaspora community spread throughout the world. The TRC hopes to involve those dispersed communities in the truth-telling process.
An aggressive outreach and awareness campaign is currently underway within the country, calling for widespread participation from all members of society. The Commission's chairman, attorney Jerome J. Verdier, also recently toured the United States to encourage Liberians living there to participate in the process, reflecting the TRC's strong commitment to hearing from as many victims and witnesses as possible to determine the truth about Liberia's violent past.
"To really move on from this era in our history, we need Liberians to come together in a common forum to investigate the crimes that took place, discuss our problems, and explore possible solutions," said Verdier, a key speaker at today's event. "We will need to hear the truth from as many victims and perpetrators as possible. At the same time, we recognize that for our country to move forward, the Commission will have to recommend institutional reforms, advocate the prosecution of certain crimes, and establish a firm record of the atrocities that took place here. To create a peaceful future, we will have to rewrite our own history."
Although the TRC's temporal mandate covers the period ranging from 1979 to 2003, it is also authorized to look more deeply into Liberian history to uncover and analyze social divisions, economic disparities, and other factors that may have contributed to the recent conflict.
"We must look at the deep roots of conflict in our society if we hope to address issues of impunity in our country," said Verdier. "Time cannot be a limiting factor to our investigations. We will look as far back as possible to understand what allowed such mass atrocities to take place."
Today's ceremony, attended by several hundred people, was the first in a series of events meant to generate discussion, educate, celebrate, and inform the public about the Commission. A public conference on transitional justice,
co-hosted by the ICTJ, the Liberian TRC, and a coalition of national NGOs known as the Transitional Justice Working Group, will take place on Friday, June 23. It will be followed by a national "jubilee" on June 24 and 25, featuring music, festivities, public outreach, and religious ceremonies. From June 26 to 28, the ICTJ will conduct a seminar bringing together representatives from former truth commissions to speak with members of the Liberian TRC.
The TRC will have two years to conduct its investigations. At the end of its mandate, it will have three months to produce a comprehensive final report, detailing its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Background
With the departure of former president Charles Taylor in August 2003, Liberia entered its first period of relative calm in more than 14 years. That same month, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra, Ghana, mandated the eventual creation of a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), passed into law by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June 2005. After several months of public consultations, on October 19, 2005, the names of the nine Commissioners were formally announced to the Liberian public.
Following the first elections held since the departure of former president Charles Taylor, on November 23, 2005, the National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia. In February 2006, she inaugurated the TRC, giving it three months to make preparations. From the time of her election, President Johnson-Sirleaf has publicly supported a truth-seeking and reconciliation process for Liberia.
(To read the formal act establishing the TRC, see: http://www.ictj.org/static/Africa/Liberia/liberiatrcact.eng.pdf
To view the official website of the TRC, see:
http://www.trcofliberia.org)
The ICTJ in Liberia
Since January 2004,the ICTJ has worked closely with the UN Mission in Liberia and the Transitional Justice Working Group-a coalition of national NGOs- to provide extensive advice on the creation of the TRC, as well as on all Commission-related work. In August of that year, Center staff attended a three-day workshop held in Monrovia to discuss and debate proposed TRC legislation.
ICTJ staff returned to Liberia several times during the first half of 2005 to finalize the TRC act and worked closely with civil society, the UN Mission in Liberia, and government officials to plan for the TRC's operation. In August 2005, at the invitation of ECOWAS, the Director of the ICTJ's International Policymaker's Unit, Priscilla Hayner, led a two-day training for the TRC Selection Panel. She also worked closely with civil society and others to advocate for broad public engagement in the process of nominating commissioners and for the transparency of the selection process.
In January 2006, the ICTJ established an office in Monrovia, staffed by two local consultants. Since then, it has held intensive meetings with the TRC, local NGOs, civil society, and government representatives; conducted intensive trainings on the subject of truth commissions; and has been actively engaged in establishing Liberia's security sector reform program.
(To read more about the ICTJ's work in Liberia, see: http://www.ictj.org/en/where/region1/589.html)
About the ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.
In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.
The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.
Liberia Launches Truth and Reconciliation Commission
June 22, 2006
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/features/961.html
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today welcomed the launch of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), presided over by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a public ceremony in Monrovia.
Today's events marked the official start of the TRC's two-year mandate to investigate human rights abuses that occurred between 1979 and 2003. In that year, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was adopted in Accra, Ghana, ending an era of intensely violent civil strife and ushering in the first period of relative calm in more than 14 years.
"Today's ceremony emphasized a tremendous national desire to understand, reckon with, and move forward from Liberia's traumatic history," said Director Priscilla Hayner, head of the ICTJ's Liberia program and a participant at today's launch. "This marks a potentially crucial milestone in Liberia's transition-from a period of despair to a time of healing and hope-that will require the courage to face painful truths and a commitment to the pursuit of justice. It was encouraging to hear President Johnson-Sirleaf's promise to support the TRC in facing up to the complex challenge of pursuing restorative and retributive justice for Liberia-both key to addressing the needs of victims."
The TRC is composed of nine national members, all of whom were selected after a widespread consultative process and nominations from the general public in the fall of 2005, with help from a selection panel chaired by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Since its inauguration in February 2006, Commission members have been engaged in preparatory activities in advance of today's operational launch, including extensive public outreach both within the country and to the Liberian diaspora community spread throughout the world. The TRC hopes to involve those dispersed communities in the truth-telling process.
An aggressive outreach and awareness campaign is currently underway within the country, calling for widespread participation from all members of society. The Commission's chairman, attorney Jerome J. Verdier, also recently toured the United States to encourage Liberians living there to participate in the process, reflecting the TRC's strong commitment to hearing from as many victims and witnesses as possible to determine the truth about Liberia's violent past.
"To really move on from this era in our history, we need Liberians to come together in a common forum to investigate the crimes that took place, discuss our problems, and explore possible solutions," said Verdier, a key speaker at today's event. "We will need to hear the truth from as many victims and perpetrators as possible. At the same time, we recognize that for our country to move forward, the Commission will have to recommend institutional reforms, advocate the prosecution of certain crimes, and establish a firm record of the atrocities that took place here. To create a peaceful future, we will have to rewrite our own history."
Although the TRC's temporal mandate covers the period ranging from 1979 to 2003, it is also authorized to look more deeply into Liberian history to uncover and analyze social divisions, economic disparities, and other factors that may have contributed to the recent conflict.
"We must look at the deep roots of conflict in our society if we hope to address issues of impunity in our country," said Verdier. "Time cannot be a limiting factor to our investigations. We will look as far back as possible to understand what allowed such mass atrocities to take place."
Today's ceremony, attended by several hundred people, was the first in a series of events meant to generate discussion, educate, celebrate, and inform the public about the Commission. A public conference on transitional justice,
co-hosted by the ICTJ, the Liberian TRC, and a coalition of national NGOs known as the Transitional Justice Working Group, will take place on Friday, June 23. It will be followed by a national "jubilee" on June 24 and 25, featuring music, festivities, public outreach, and religious ceremonies. From June 26 to 28, the ICTJ will conduct a seminar bringing together representatives from former truth commissions to speak with members of the Liberian TRC.
The TRC will have two years to conduct its investigations. At the end of its mandate, it will have three months to produce a comprehensive final report, detailing its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Background
With the departure of former president Charles Taylor in August 2003, Liberia entered its first period of relative calm in more than 14 years. That same month, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra, Ghana, mandated the eventual creation of a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), passed into law by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June 2005. After several months of public consultations, on October 19, 2005, the names of the nine Commissioners were formally announced to the Liberian public.
Following the first elections held since the departure of former president Charles Taylor, on November 23, 2005, the National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia. In February 2006, she inaugurated the TRC, giving it three months to make preparations. From the time of her election, President Johnson-Sirleaf has publicly supported a truth-seeking and reconciliation process for Liberia.
(To read the formal act establishing the TRC, see: http://www.ictj.org/static/Africa/Liberia/liberiatrcact.eng.pdf
To view the official website of the TRC, see:
http://www.trcofliberia.org)
The ICTJ in Liberia
Since January 2004,the ICTJ has worked closely with the UN Mission in Liberia and the Transitional Justice Working Group-a coalition of national NGOs- to provide extensive advice on the creation of the TRC, as well as on all Commission-related work. In August of that year, Center staff attended a three-day workshop held in Monrovia to discuss and debate proposed TRC legislation.
ICTJ staff returned to Liberia several times during the first half of 2005 to finalize the TRC act and worked closely with civil society, the UN Mission in Liberia, and government officials to plan for the TRC's operation. In August 2005, at the invitation of ECOWAS, the Director of the ICTJ's International Policymaker's Unit, Priscilla Hayner, led a two-day training for the TRC Selection Panel. She also worked closely with civil society and others to advocate for broad public engagement in the process of nominating commissioners and for the transparency of the selection process.
In January 2006, the ICTJ established an office in Monrovia, staffed by two local consultants. Since then, it has held intensive meetings with the TRC, local NGOs, civil society, and government representatives; conducted intensive trainings on the subject of truth commissions; and has been actively engaged in establishing Liberia's security sector reform program.
(To read more about the ICTJ's work in Liberia, see: http://www.ictj.org/en/where/region1/589.html)
About the ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.
In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.
The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/features/961.html
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today welcomed the launch of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), presided over by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a public ceremony in Monrovia.
Today's events marked the official start of the TRC's two-year mandate to investigate human rights abuses that occurred between 1979 and 2003. In that year, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was adopted in Accra, Ghana, ending an era of intensely violent civil strife and ushering in the first period of relative calm in more than 14 years.
"Today's ceremony emphasized a tremendous national desire to understand, reckon with, and move forward from Liberia's traumatic history," said Director Priscilla Hayner, head of the ICTJ's Liberia program and a participant at today's launch. "This marks a potentially crucial milestone in Liberia's transition-from a period of despair to a time of healing and hope-that will require the courage to face painful truths and a commitment to the pursuit of justice. It was encouraging to hear President Johnson-Sirleaf's promise to support the TRC in facing up to the complex challenge of pursuing restorative and retributive justice for Liberia-both key to addressing the needs of victims."
The TRC is composed of nine national members, all of whom were selected after a widespread consultative process and nominations from the general public in the fall of 2005, with help from a selection panel chaired by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Since its inauguration in February 2006, Commission members have been engaged in preparatory activities in advance of today's operational launch, including extensive public outreach both within the country and to the Liberian diaspora community spread throughout the world. The TRC hopes to involve those dispersed communities in the truth-telling process.
An aggressive outreach and awareness campaign is currently underway within the country, calling for widespread participation from all members of society. The Commission's chairman, attorney Jerome J. Verdier, also recently toured the United States to encourage Liberians living there to participate in the process, reflecting the TRC's strong commitment to hearing from as many victims and witnesses as possible to determine the truth about Liberia's violent past.
"To really move on from this era in our history, we need Liberians to come together in a common forum to investigate the crimes that took place, discuss our problems, and explore possible solutions," said Verdier, a key speaker at today's event. "We will need to hear the truth from as many victims and perpetrators as possible. At the same time, we recognize that for our country to move forward, the Commission will have to recommend institutional reforms, advocate the prosecution of certain crimes, and establish a firm record of the atrocities that took place here. To create a peaceful future, we will have to rewrite our own history."
Although the TRC's temporal mandate covers the period ranging from 1979 to 2003, it is also authorized to look more deeply into Liberian history to uncover and analyze social divisions, economic disparities, and other factors that may have contributed to the recent conflict.
"We must look at the deep roots of conflict in our society if we hope to address issues of impunity in our country," said Verdier. "Time cannot be a limiting factor to our investigations. We will look as far back as possible to understand what allowed such mass atrocities to take place."
Today's ceremony, attended by several hundred people, was the first in a series of events meant to generate discussion, educate, celebrate, and inform the public about the Commission. A public conference on transitional justice,
co-hosted by the ICTJ, the Liberian TRC, and a coalition of national NGOs known as the Transitional Justice Working Group, will take place on Friday, June 23. It will be followed by a national "jubilee" on June 24 and 25, featuring music, festivities, public outreach, and religious ceremonies. From June 26 to 28, the ICTJ will conduct a seminar bringing together representatives from former truth commissions to speak with members of the Liberian TRC.
The TRC will have two years to conduct its investigations. At the end of its mandate, it will have three months to produce a comprehensive final report, detailing its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Background
With the departure of former president Charles Taylor in August 2003, Liberia entered its first period of relative calm in more than 14 years. That same month, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra, Ghana, mandated the eventual creation of a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), passed into law by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June 2005. After several months of public consultations, on October 19, 2005, the names of the nine Commissioners were formally announced to the Liberian public.
Following the first elections held since the departure of former president Charles Taylor, on November 23, 2005, the National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia. In February 2006, she inaugurated the TRC, giving it three months to make preparations. From the time of her election, President Johnson-Sirleaf has publicly supported a truth-seeking and reconciliation process for Liberia.
(To read the formal act establishing the TRC, see: http://www.ictj.org/static/Africa/Liberia/liberiatrcact.eng.pdf
To view the official website of the TRC, see:
http://www.trcofliberia.org)
The ICTJ in Liberia
Since January 2004,the ICTJ has worked closely with the UN Mission in Liberia and the Transitional Justice Working Group-a coalition of national NGOs- to provide extensive advice on the creation of the TRC, as well as on all Commission-related work. In August of that year, Center staff attended a three-day workshop held in Monrovia to discuss and debate proposed TRC legislation.
ICTJ staff returned to Liberia several times during the first half of 2005 to finalize the TRC act and worked closely with civil society, the UN Mission in Liberia, and government officials to plan for the TRC's operation. In August 2005, at the invitation of ECOWAS, the Director of the ICTJ's International Policymaker's Unit, Priscilla Hayner, led a two-day training for the TRC Selection Panel. She also worked closely with civil society and others to advocate for broad public engagement in the process of nominating commissioners and for the transparency of the selection process.
In January 2006, the ICTJ established an office in Monrovia, staffed by two local consultants. Since then, it has held intensive meetings with the TRC, local NGOs, civil society, and government representatives; conducted intensive trainings on the subject of truth commissions; and has been actively engaged in establishing Liberia's security sector reform program.
(To read more about the ICTJ's work in Liberia, see: http://www.ictj.org/en/where/region1/589.html)
About the ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.
In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.
The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.
TRC Kicks Off Mobilization
Friday, June 16, 2006
http://www.analystliberia.com/trc_kickoff_june16.html
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) is expected to kick off its community mobilization and sensitization this weekend with a jamboree featuring performances by an array of renowned Liberian artists. The exercise is intended to sensitize the public about the TRC process, what it is about, and what it would achieve.
According to a release from the TRC signed by its Commissioner on Media and Outreach, Massa Washington, the mass media campaign co-named Operation TRC Fatigue, is intended to create massive education and awareness of the TRC process, with the aim of ensuring that every resident within the confines of Liberia know about the TRC and grasp a better understanding of the Commission.
The strategy is to also create a TRC fatigue rather than have people not hear about the TRC at all.
Already, 16 TRC sensitization supervisors from Monrovia have been dispatched into the 15 counties and will be joined by more than 1, 200 county mobilizers trained by the TRC for the distribution of TRC messages, flyers, banners and posters into the rural areas.
On Saturday, June 17, 2006 a wide range of activities will take place commencing with a float display from the TRC office on Lynch Street and throughout the principle streets of Monrovia.
The day will be climaxed at the Sports Commission on Broad Street with performances by high profile Liberian artists including Livi Zinzway, Extra Ordinary (XO), Friday (the cell phone man), D-Trench, E-mass, Sauve, Sundaygar Dear-boy, Ladylove and King O’Bryant.
Others are Sandy Roberts, Theo Dahnkuah, Winston P. Kai, Real Nigga, Tony K, Tokai Tomah, Marie Nyenibo, Hawa Vertikeh, and Gameh Garter. According to the TRC, the awareness jamboree is also a prelude to the official launching of the TRC scheduled for Thursday, June 22, 2006 at the Centennial Pavilion on Ashmun Street at 10am.
Guest Speaker for the occasion will be the Head of the Good Governance Commission, and former President of the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU), Dr. Amos C. Sawyer, and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will serve a Launcher.
ACT Liberia Forum Expresses Concern
The ACT Liberia Forum expresses serious concern over recent reports published by the Save the Children UK in which she alleged the sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls and women in the IDP camps by camp officials, humanitarian workers, business men, peace keepers, government officials, teachers, for the sake of food, money and other services.
The ACT Forum in keeping with its International Code of Conduct categorically condemns any act of sexual exploitation against vulnerable girls and women by privileged individuals, particularly humanitarian workers who are paid to serve humanity during unfavorable circumstances.
The ACT Forum calls on all its members to ensure that their staff signs the Code of Conduct against sexual exploitation issued by ACT International Geneva Office in 2002. The Forum members are urged to create awareness by educating their staff on the danger of sexual exploitation and how to protect vulnerable people with emphasis on the ACT International Code of Conduct.
ACT Liberia Forum, which is a consortium of Church, and church related organizations with partnership to ACT International Geneva, has been working to save lives through humanitarian services during the emergency period.
Presently ACT Forum members in Liberia are engaged in post war rehabilitation, assisting IDPs return, and carrying out other community development projects.
ACT Liberia Forum members include Liberian Council of Churches (LCC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Christian Health Association of Liberia (CHAL), Concerned Christian Community (CCC), and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA),
Others are, Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL), United Methodist Church (UMC), United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Presbyterian Relief Service (PRS), World Hope International Liberia Ltd. (WHIL), Diakonie Emergency Aid and the Norwegian Church Aid.
http://www.analystliberia.com/trc_kickoff_june16.html
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) is expected to kick off its community mobilization and sensitization this weekend with a jamboree featuring performances by an array of renowned Liberian artists. The exercise is intended to sensitize the public about the TRC process, what it is about, and what it would achieve.
According to a release from the TRC signed by its Commissioner on Media and Outreach, Massa Washington, the mass media campaign co-named Operation TRC Fatigue, is intended to create massive education and awareness of the TRC process, with the aim of ensuring that every resident within the confines of Liberia know about the TRC and grasp a better understanding of the Commission.
The strategy is to also create a TRC fatigue rather than have people not hear about the TRC at all.
Already, 16 TRC sensitization supervisors from Monrovia have been dispatched into the 15 counties and will be joined by more than 1, 200 county mobilizers trained by the TRC for the distribution of TRC messages, flyers, banners and posters into the rural areas.
On Saturday, June 17, 2006 a wide range of activities will take place commencing with a float display from the TRC office on Lynch Street and throughout the principle streets of Monrovia.
The day will be climaxed at the Sports Commission on Broad Street with performances by high profile Liberian artists including Livi Zinzway, Extra Ordinary (XO), Friday (the cell phone man), D-Trench, E-mass, Sauve, Sundaygar Dear-boy, Ladylove and King O’Bryant.
Others are Sandy Roberts, Theo Dahnkuah, Winston P. Kai, Real Nigga, Tony K, Tokai Tomah, Marie Nyenibo, Hawa Vertikeh, and Gameh Garter. According to the TRC, the awareness jamboree is also a prelude to the official launching of the TRC scheduled for Thursday, June 22, 2006 at the Centennial Pavilion on Ashmun Street at 10am.
Guest Speaker for the occasion will be the Head of the Good Governance Commission, and former President of the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU), Dr. Amos C. Sawyer, and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will serve a Launcher.
ACT Liberia Forum Expresses Concern
The ACT Liberia Forum expresses serious concern over recent reports published by the Save the Children UK in which she alleged the sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls and women in the IDP camps by camp officials, humanitarian workers, business men, peace keepers, government officials, teachers, for the sake of food, money and other services.
The ACT Forum in keeping with its International Code of Conduct categorically condemns any act of sexual exploitation against vulnerable girls and women by privileged individuals, particularly humanitarian workers who are paid to serve humanity during unfavorable circumstances.
The ACT Forum calls on all its members to ensure that their staff signs the Code of Conduct against sexual exploitation issued by ACT International Geneva Office in 2002. The Forum members are urged to create awareness by educating their staff on the danger of sexual exploitation and how to protect vulnerable people with emphasis on the ACT International Code of Conduct.
ACT Liberia Forum, which is a consortium of Church, and church related organizations with partnership to ACT International Geneva, has been working to save lives through humanitarian services during the emergency period.
Presently ACT Forum members in Liberia are engaged in post war rehabilitation, assisting IDPs return, and carrying out other community development projects.
ACT Liberia Forum members include Liberian Council of Churches (LCC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Christian Health Association of Liberia (CHAL), Concerned Christian Community (CCC), and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA),
Others are, Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL), United Methodist Church (UMC), United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Presbyterian Relief Service (PRS), World Hope International Liberia Ltd. (WHIL), Diakonie Emergency Aid and the Norwegian Church Aid.
TRC Will Not Grant Amnesty To Everyone
TRC Will Not Grant Amnesty To Everyone
Monday, 5th June 2006
By Sam Togba Slewion
- Says Chairman
http://www.theinquirer.com.lr/editorial_details.php?recordID=1376
Everyone appearing before the investigation panel of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) of Liberia will not be granted amnesty contrary to popular beliefs that there will be a blanket amnesty for those who appear before the Commission and confess their roles in the 14-year civil war in Liberia.
This revelation was made by Cllr. Jerome Verdier, Chairman of the TRC, when he met with Liberians in Philadelphia at town hall meeting during his recent visit to the United States in late May. He was here as guest of the Center for Transitional Justice in New York.
Chairman Verdier explained further that while the work of the TRC is to promote healing and reconciliation among Liberians after such a bitter experience in the country, “everyone who appears before us will not be granted amnesty based on the gravity of the atrocities committed by some people during the war.”
The disclosure by Chairman Verdier comes in the wake of apprehensions in some quarters of the Liberian community that a general amnesty awaits perpetrators of all crimes committed during the war by the TRC. This perception appears to be fueling the disdain some Liberians have against the role of the TRC, thus driving their call for the establishment of a war crime tribunal.
Some Liberians strongly feel that any reconciliation process in the country without justice will not contribute to completely healing the wounds and emotional scars of the civil war, but other Liberians hold contrary views, believing that reconciliation without justice promotes forgiveness and provides an opportunity to give a second chance to everyone, including even the most notorious perpetrators in the war.
It appears that the TRC is taking a middle ground between the opposing views, considering its mandate not to grant blanket amnesty to all victimizers of the war. However, it is not exactly clear what will be the fate of those who fail to win the clemency of the TRC, but Chairman Verdier hinted to the gathering in Philadelphia that their fate will be contained as part of the recommendations to be submited to the Government by the Commission for further implementation beyond the scope of the TRC, which is expected to last for two years.
While the TRC is expected to officially commence its work this month, the members of the Commission have been engaging officials of other Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to study the work and experiences of these bodies to enable the TRC effectively conduct its mission. The Chairman of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone recently visited Liberia and shared some of the challenges of his Commission.
He told the TRC to avoid the mistake of simultanously conducting a hearing alongside a war crime tribunal. “The work of these two bodies cannot go together as the war crime tribunal undermined the work of the TRC in Sierra Leone because perpetrators were afraid to come forward for fear of being transfered to the war crime tribunal after their confessions before our Commission, “ he said.
Few weeks after the visit of the Chairman of the Sierra Leonean TRC, the nine commissioner of the TRC of Liberia left for South Africa to review the work of the South Africa TRC headed by Bishop Desmond Tutu. The Commissioner have also recieved short-term training in transitional justice and watched video tapes of hearings of the other TRCs, including those of South Africa.
When the TRC is fully prepared and ready to hear testimonies of victims and victimizers of the Liberian civil war, Chairman Verdier indicated that part of its work will focus on atrocities committed against women, children and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable groups in any crisis. “Our work will also include the investigation of economic crimes between 1979 to 2003,” Chairman Verdier disclosed in Philadelphia.
Monday, 5th June 2006
By Sam Togba Slewion
- Says Chairman
http://www.theinquirer.com.lr/editorial_details.php?recordID=1376
Everyone appearing before the investigation panel of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) of Liberia will not be granted amnesty contrary to popular beliefs that there will be a blanket amnesty for those who appear before the Commission and confess their roles in the 14-year civil war in Liberia.
This revelation was made by Cllr. Jerome Verdier, Chairman of the TRC, when he met with Liberians in Philadelphia at town hall meeting during his recent visit to the United States in late May. He was here as guest of the Center for Transitional Justice in New York.
Chairman Verdier explained further that while the work of the TRC is to promote healing and reconciliation among Liberians after such a bitter experience in the country, “everyone who appears before us will not be granted amnesty based on the gravity of the atrocities committed by some people during the war.”
The disclosure by Chairman Verdier comes in the wake of apprehensions in some quarters of the Liberian community that a general amnesty awaits perpetrators of all crimes committed during the war by the TRC. This perception appears to be fueling the disdain some Liberians have against the role of the TRC, thus driving their call for the establishment of a war crime tribunal.
Some Liberians strongly feel that any reconciliation process in the country without justice will not contribute to completely healing the wounds and emotional scars of the civil war, but other Liberians hold contrary views, believing that reconciliation without justice promotes forgiveness and provides an opportunity to give a second chance to everyone, including even the most notorious perpetrators in the war.
It appears that the TRC is taking a middle ground between the opposing views, considering its mandate not to grant blanket amnesty to all victimizers of the war. However, it is not exactly clear what will be the fate of those who fail to win the clemency of the TRC, but Chairman Verdier hinted to the gathering in Philadelphia that their fate will be contained as part of the recommendations to be submited to the Government by the Commission for further implementation beyond the scope of the TRC, which is expected to last for two years.
While the TRC is expected to officially commence its work this month, the members of the Commission have been engaging officials of other Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to study the work and experiences of these bodies to enable the TRC effectively conduct its mission. The Chairman of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone recently visited Liberia and shared some of the challenges of his Commission.
He told the TRC to avoid the mistake of simultanously conducting a hearing alongside a war crime tribunal. “The work of these two bodies cannot go together as the war crime tribunal undermined the work of the TRC in Sierra Leone because perpetrators were afraid to come forward for fear of being transfered to the war crime tribunal after their confessions before our Commission, “ he said.
Few weeks after the visit of the Chairman of the Sierra Leonean TRC, the nine commissioner of the TRC of Liberia left for South Africa to review the work of the South Africa TRC headed by Bishop Desmond Tutu. The Commissioner have also recieved short-term training in transitional justice and watched video tapes of hearings of the other TRCs, including those of South Africa.
When the TRC is fully prepared and ready to hear testimonies of victims and victimizers of the Liberian civil war, Chairman Verdier indicated that part of its work will focus on atrocities committed against women, children and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable groups in any crisis. “Our work will also include the investigation of economic crimes between 1979 to 2003,” Chairman Verdier disclosed in Philadelphia.
Liberia: Healing the Wounds of Civil War
Most Liberians say they are ready to forgive, if not forget, atrocities committed by fighters.
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=260310&apc_state=heniacr200603
By Katharine Houreld in Monrovia (AR No.56, 13-Mar-06)
Jerome Verdier’s best friend's mother still weeps when she sees him. Sixteen years ago, her son left the house he shared with his old schoolmate to look for food just as Liberia's civil war was beginning to rage. Charles Peah never came home, one of tens of thousands of Liberians who simply disappeared into unmarked graves.
Now Verdier's new job as head of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC, means he may come face to face with the people who killed his friend.
"He was like a little brother to me. We met in second grade, grew up in the same community, and then he moved away but came back to live with me because of the war," Verdier, a US-trained environmental lawyer, told IWPR. "He never came home from the food search. Even now his mother cries if she sees me."
The dynamic young lawyer and civil rights activist is among nine prominent Liberians given the responsibility, as TRC commissioners, of healing the wounds caused by decades of vicious conflict interrupted by periods of fragile peace. During the worst days of the war, he organised food distribution and struggled to document abuses, risking the wrath of the factions who battled to control Monrovia, the capital city.
He remembers narrowly escaping execution when his would-be killers were distracted by a passing food lorry. "They held us at gunpoint and ordered us to strip," he said. "That [escape] was by the grace of God."
Although Verdier himself was lucky, an estimated quarter of a million people in a population of just over three million died during the longest period of civil war, lasting 14 years. Hundreds of thousands more were raped, robbed or mutilated.
Now, after more than two years of peace, the country is struggling to reintegrate over one hundred thousand disarmed ex-combatants back into the society they victimised. Many of them were children, abducted from their families and forced to commit atrocities by a mixture of drugs and threats.
"This country may never find its bearings and reconcile its people if the truth about its past is not adequately revealed and understood and its people made to account for their actions. People died, people lost properties, people have been displaced, people are in refugee camps … The TRC will follow all leads. It will assemble all pieces of evidence and whatever evidence points to any Liberian, inside and outside of Liberia," said Verdier.
During the ceremony to launch the TRC last month, Liberia's new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, stressed the need for reconciliation and pledged to strike a balance between restorative and retributive justice. The outspoken new head of state has been imprisoned several times herself, and once threatened with rape. She pledged to forgive those who targeted her personally. "I have come to believe that when the truth is told, humanity is redeemed from the cowardice claws of violence," she said.
The bullet-ridden Executive Mansion, where the ceremony was held, rang with thunderous applause when she warned, "Our government will ensure that those culpable of crimes against humanity will face up to their crimes, no matter when, where or how."
Many former faction commanders were elected as senators or parliamentary representatives in elections last October and November and are now part of Johnson-Sirleaf's government. Former warlords Adolphus "Peanut Butter" Dolo and Prince Yormie Johnson, notorious for supervising the torture and killing of former President Samuel Doe, were two of many dubious characters elected to the Senate. But the TRC's head has promised to use his powers of subpoena to pursue those most culpable of gross human rights violations.
"No member of society is immune to the TRC process," said Verdier, confirming that it is part of its mandate to make recommendations for prosecution. "I am very, very confident that Liberians are determined to do away with the culture of impunity. If members of the current government are found to be guilty of rights violations, especially heinous crimes against humanity, yes, definitely [they
may be prosecuted]."
Most Liberians say that for the sake of peace they are ready to forgive, if not forget, the atrocities committed by rank-and-file fighters. "The memories ambush you at odd times," said Katherine Kebbah, now working as a nanny in the capital.
During the war, she was forced to flee several times and was raped by rebel forces loyal to Charles Taylor, the richest, most powerful and best connected of the warlords, who fought his way to the presidency, where he became a kind of mafia don, trafficking diamonds and timber and terrorising the population.
"The man take me into the bush, he do what he wanted," said Kebbah. Her father and sister were being forced to have sex with each other by the rebels, but her grandmother bravely intervened to save them. Instead, the family house was burned down. Despite her family's suffering, Kebbah said she approves of the TRC and is ready to forgive those who have caused her such pain. "If he [her rapist] can be a Christian, and change his wickedness, I can forgive him," she said.
Corinne Dufka, the West Africa head of Human Rights Watch, said such forgiveness is key to Liberians being able to live in peace together again. But although welcoming the president's commitment to bring those most responsible for crimes against humanity to trial, bypassing the snail-like International Criminal Court in The Hague, she warned, "How those identified as most responsible are to be tried, however, poses a major challenge, especially given the near-collapsed state of the Liberian judicial system.
"Few of Liberia's fifteen counties have prisons or courthouses and lawyers typically earn only 25 US dollars per month."
Despite the challenges, Dufka's organisation recently joined over 300 Liberian and international groups who wrote to President Johnson-Sirleaf urging her to ensure that Taylor stands trial for his crimes. He has already been indicted on seventeen counts of crimes against humanity by a United Nations-backed special court for his part in the war of neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Taylor went into exile in Nigeria two-and-a-half years ago, having first transferred nearly the entire contents of Liberia's Treasury to his various foreign bank accounts. A UN peacekeeping force moved in which eventually allowed last year's parliamentary and presidential elections to take place. The indictment for Sierra Leone charges Taylor with mass murder, rape and the extensive use of child soldiers through the Revolutionary United Front, a Sierra Leonean rebel group notorious for mutilation and murder, which Taylor financed and armed from Liberia.
Even forgiveness, Kebbah agreed, has its limits. After he waged war on them, she said, terrified Liberians tried to reconcile with Taylor by electing him president, but he betrayed them by continuing his human rights violations.
"He said we should forgive and forget him, that's why we put him in the [president's] chair," she said. "But then he go back on his word, he can say anything, anytime [meaning he lied]. He cannot be trusted. Some I can forgive, but not him. Never him."
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=260310&apc_state=heniacr200603
By Katharine Houreld in Monrovia (AR No.56, 13-Mar-06)
Jerome Verdier’s best friend's mother still weeps when she sees him. Sixteen years ago, her son left the house he shared with his old schoolmate to look for food just as Liberia's civil war was beginning to rage. Charles Peah never came home, one of tens of thousands of Liberians who simply disappeared into unmarked graves.
Now Verdier's new job as head of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, TRC, means he may come face to face with the people who killed his friend.
"He was like a little brother to me. We met in second grade, grew up in the same community, and then he moved away but came back to live with me because of the war," Verdier, a US-trained environmental lawyer, told IWPR. "He never came home from the food search. Even now his mother cries if she sees me."
The dynamic young lawyer and civil rights activist is among nine prominent Liberians given the responsibility, as TRC commissioners, of healing the wounds caused by decades of vicious conflict interrupted by periods of fragile peace. During the worst days of the war, he organised food distribution and struggled to document abuses, risking the wrath of the factions who battled to control Monrovia, the capital city.
He remembers narrowly escaping execution when his would-be killers were distracted by a passing food lorry. "They held us at gunpoint and ordered us to strip," he said. "That [escape] was by the grace of God."
Although Verdier himself was lucky, an estimated quarter of a million people in a population of just over three million died during the longest period of civil war, lasting 14 years. Hundreds of thousands more were raped, robbed or mutilated.
Now, after more than two years of peace, the country is struggling to reintegrate over one hundred thousand disarmed ex-combatants back into the society they victimised. Many of them were children, abducted from their families and forced to commit atrocities by a mixture of drugs and threats.
"This country may never find its bearings and reconcile its people if the truth about its past is not adequately revealed and understood and its people made to account for their actions. People died, people lost properties, people have been displaced, people are in refugee camps … The TRC will follow all leads. It will assemble all pieces of evidence and whatever evidence points to any Liberian, inside and outside of Liberia," said Verdier.
During the ceremony to launch the TRC last month, Liberia's new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, stressed the need for reconciliation and pledged to strike a balance between restorative and retributive justice. The outspoken new head of state has been imprisoned several times herself, and once threatened with rape. She pledged to forgive those who targeted her personally. "I have come to believe that when the truth is told, humanity is redeemed from the cowardice claws of violence," she said.
The bullet-ridden Executive Mansion, where the ceremony was held, rang with thunderous applause when she warned, "Our government will ensure that those culpable of crimes against humanity will face up to their crimes, no matter when, where or how."
Many former faction commanders were elected as senators or parliamentary representatives in elections last October and November and are now part of Johnson-Sirleaf's government. Former warlords Adolphus "Peanut Butter" Dolo and Prince Yormie Johnson, notorious for supervising the torture and killing of former President Samuel Doe, were two of many dubious characters elected to the Senate. But the TRC's head has promised to use his powers of subpoena to pursue those most culpable of gross human rights violations.
"No member of society is immune to the TRC process," said Verdier, confirming that it is part of its mandate to make recommendations for prosecution. "I am very, very confident that Liberians are determined to do away with the culture of impunity. If members of the current government are found to be guilty of rights violations, especially heinous crimes against humanity, yes, definitely [they
may be prosecuted]."
Most Liberians say that for the sake of peace they are ready to forgive, if not forget, the atrocities committed by rank-and-file fighters. "The memories ambush you at odd times," said Katherine Kebbah, now working as a nanny in the capital.
During the war, she was forced to flee several times and was raped by rebel forces loyal to Charles Taylor, the richest, most powerful and best connected of the warlords, who fought his way to the presidency, where he became a kind of mafia don, trafficking diamonds and timber and terrorising the population.
"The man take me into the bush, he do what he wanted," said Kebbah. Her father and sister were being forced to have sex with each other by the rebels, but her grandmother bravely intervened to save them. Instead, the family house was burned down. Despite her family's suffering, Kebbah said she approves of the TRC and is ready to forgive those who have caused her such pain. "If he [her rapist] can be a Christian, and change his wickedness, I can forgive him," she said.
Corinne Dufka, the West Africa head of Human Rights Watch, said such forgiveness is key to Liberians being able to live in peace together again. But although welcoming the president's commitment to bring those most responsible for crimes against humanity to trial, bypassing the snail-like International Criminal Court in The Hague, she warned, "How those identified as most responsible are to be tried, however, poses a major challenge, especially given the near-collapsed state of the Liberian judicial system.
"Few of Liberia's fifteen counties have prisons or courthouses and lawyers typically earn only 25 US dollars per month."
Despite the challenges, Dufka's organisation recently joined over 300 Liberian and international groups who wrote to President Johnson-Sirleaf urging her to ensure that Taylor stands trial for his crimes. He has already been indicted on seventeen counts of crimes against humanity by a United Nations-backed special court for his part in the war of neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Taylor went into exile in Nigeria two-and-a-half years ago, having first transferred nearly the entire contents of Liberia's Treasury to his various foreign bank accounts. A UN peacekeeping force moved in which eventually allowed last year's parliamentary and presidential elections to take place. The indictment for Sierra Leone charges Taylor with mass murder, rape and the extensive use of child soldiers through the Revolutionary United Front, a Sierra Leonean rebel group notorious for mutilation and murder, which Taylor financed and armed from Liberia.
Even forgiveness, Kebbah agreed, has its limits. After he waged war on them, she said, terrified Liberians tried to reconcile with Taylor by electing him president, but he betrayed them by continuing his human rights violations.
"He said we should forgive and forget him, that's why we put him in the [president's] chair," she said. "But then he go back on his word, he can say anything, anytime [meaning he lied]. He cannot be trusted. Some I can forgive, but not him. Never him."
All Liberians are amenable to the TRC, says Verdier
Posted May 29, 2006
http://runningafrica.com/news-05292006TRC.html
Mr. Ben Weefua hails from Lofa County, Liberia, West Africa. Mr. Weefua currently resides in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State. He is the former president of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania.
Ben as he is popularly called, is one of the hundreds of Liberians that have dreadful memories of the ended 14 years Liberian civil war. According to Ben, some of his relatives were brutally murdered by rebel fighters in 1990. “ The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) fighters rounded up my aunt and grandmother along with 40 other women in our village (Balagwalazu) in Lofa. The rebels locked them up in a house and set the house on fire with gasoline. Our people were burnt alive,” Mr. Weefua painstakingly recounted the tragic home going of his relatives.
He made the allegation recently in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when the chairman of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Jerome Vedier met with a cross section of Liberians at a town hall gathering. The meeting was organized by the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP).
Mr. Weefua’s family story is painful, heartbreaking, and horrifying. His account of the civil war is one of the many outrageous tales that hundreds of Liberians will begin narrating before the TRC when the commission begins the hearing of cases on June 22, 2006. The TRC has the mandate to probe and document economic crimes and human rights abuses committed in Liberia from June of 1979 to October of 2003. The National Reconciliation Act passed in 2005 by the disbanded Transitional Legislative Assembly created the commission. The setting-up of the Commission is in compliance with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which was signed by parties to the ended Liberian Civil war in 2003.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman Vedier said, TRC commissioners have begun a sensitization campaign in rural Liberia as part of efforts to educate Liberians about the work of the commission. He said the campaign would last for three months. “ My visit to the US is also in keeping with the TRC’s public awareness campaign,” he said. “The task at hand is difficult, and we can not do it alone. We think there should be a vigorous involvement of Liberians in the work of the TRC. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support in helping us restore peace and stability to Liberia,” he noted.
Hearing Process
He said, “Following the tours, we will travel to Ghana and South Africa to attend workshops and after that, we will formally begin the hearing of cases in June. To ensure that every town or village in Liberia is reached during the hearing process, we have demarcated the country into eight zones.” He said the commission will hear all cases regardless of the individuals involved.
He explained, “The process will be democratic and accessible to all Liberians. Our work will be marked by diligence and honesty.” Chairman Vedier stated, “We will make sure that recommendations emanating from the commission are comprehensive and realistic.” Truth, he noted, “Is the path to reconciliation. So, people will have to account for their wrong doings.”
Legislative Immunity
He said the commission has the mandate to subpoena anyone accused of war crimes in Liberia. “The Act that created the TRC does not exclude anyone from appearing before the commission not even legislators.” Chairman Vedier who is also, a barrister by profession, argued, “I know that Article 42 of the Liberian constitution protects legislators from arrest while attending, going to or returning from sessions of the legislature, but they can be arrested for treason, felony or breach of the peace.”
“So, he went on, “If the need arises for a lawmaker or lawmakers to testify before the commission for acts committed during the civil war, we will subpoena them”. He maintained, no legislator or public official can claim any form of immunity as a means of evading appearance before the TRC because “We have the power to come after you”.
Justice, the youthful chairman promised, would be rendered. “We are Liberians and we know what happened in Liberia during the war. We don’t have to get complaints before citing anyone. We have the power to summon any Liberian to testify before the commission if doing so would be in the interest of the reconciliation process.”
He said the commission has contempt power to deal with anyone who may try to obstruct the work of the TRC. “We with the backing of the legal system, can impose fines and imprison for up to six months anyone who may elect to barricade our work.”
Funding
According to Chairman Vedier, the TRC has a very huge mandate. “Our work requires funding, resources, and collaboration at all levels. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support .” The TRC has a 10 million dollar budget that covers a two year period.
At the moment, the Chairman said, “ We have 900 thousand dollars of the 10 million dollars budgeted for our work.” He said, the money was donated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)…$ 300,000.00, the Danish government…$300,000.00, and the Liberian government…$ 300,000.00.
He stated that the Liberian government has also agreed to fund the TRC’s administrative cost which is put at $ 3 million. He said, “With this commitment from the Liberian government, we now have a gap of $ 7 million. That’s what we are now trying to raise.” Chairman Vedier pleaded with his fellow compatriots to get involve in the work of the commission. “We need your financial and logistical support in the accomplishment of our mission,” he pleaded.
TRC Hearings in US and Britain
Meanwhile, Liberia’s Consul General to the City of Philadelphia, Teta Banks, is calling on the TRC to establish hearing centers for Liberians in the United States and Britain. The Consul General reasoned that the creation of sites in the US and Britain would afford Liberians in both countries affected by the civil war to be a part of the commission’s adjudication process. “We want the hearing of cases evolving out of the civil war to be democratic and unlimited in terms of access,” She emphasized.
She said Liberian consulates in the US and Britain would conclude arrangements with the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), the Cable News Network (CNN), and C-Span for the telecast of TRC’s hearings without any cost to the Liberian government.
At the same time, the Co-chairman of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP) Board of Directors, Francis Duwana is urging the TRC to intensify its public awareness campaign. “The commission must devote time and resources to explaining its work because many people still do not understand the work of the commission,” Mr. Duwana, advised.
Making closing remarks at the LAP town hall meeting, Mr. Duwana noted the frequent misuse of the word, reconciliation by Liberian politicians and ordinary citizens. He said, the TRC must help Liberians understand and practicalize the essence of reconciliation. “Reconciliation in Liberia must be supported by truth telling. It must be a precipitating condition for genuine peace.”
The creation of a TRC to investigate and document abuses committed in Liberia during the civil war, is a not a new phenomenon to Africa. South Africa, was the first African nation to establish a truth and reconciliation commission. The National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34, passed in 1995 after the fall of apartheid created South Africa’s TRC. The commission was mandated to bear witness, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to perpetrators of crimes committed during the apartheid area.
Although the concept of TRC in peace building is controversial, truth telling has helped in unearthing abuses committed by authoritarian groups and leaderships in Africa and Latin America. The idea originated from Latin America where countries emerging out of long periods of authoritarian rule, such as Chile, and Argentina developed TRCs in order to expose and condemn human rights abuses committed under outgoing military regimes.
Blood letting in Liberia came to an end in 2003 following the signing of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement by contending parties to the civil war. The ended 14 years Liberian civil war claimed an estimated 200 thousand human lives and billions of dollars worth of properties. Liberia now has a democratically elected administration headed by Africa first female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Mrs. Sirleaf Was elected in 2005 during a special election held in November following the nation’s general and presidential elections in October of 2005.
Writes, Moses D. Sandy
http://runningafrica.com/news-05292006TRC.html
Mr. Ben Weefua hails from Lofa County, Liberia, West Africa. Mr. Weefua currently resides in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State. He is the former president of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania.
Ben as he is popularly called, is one of the hundreds of Liberians that have dreadful memories of the ended 14 years Liberian civil war. According to Ben, some of his relatives were brutally murdered by rebel fighters in 1990. “ The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) fighters rounded up my aunt and grandmother along with 40 other women in our village (Balagwalazu) in Lofa. The rebels locked them up in a house and set the house on fire with gasoline. Our people were burnt alive,” Mr. Weefua painstakingly recounted the tragic home going of his relatives.
He made the allegation recently in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when the chairman of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Jerome Vedier met with a cross section of Liberians at a town hall gathering. The meeting was organized by the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP).
Mr. Weefua’s family story is painful, heartbreaking, and horrifying. His account of the civil war is one of the many outrageous tales that hundreds of Liberians will begin narrating before the TRC when the commission begins the hearing of cases on June 22, 2006. The TRC has the mandate to probe and document economic crimes and human rights abuses committed in Liberia from June of 1979 to October of 2003. The National Reconciliation Act passed in 2005 by the disbanded Transitional Legislative Assembly created the commission. The setting-up of the Commission is in compliance with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which was signed by parties to the ended Liberian Civil war in 2003.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman Vedier said, TRC commissioners have begun a sensitization campaign in rural Liberia as part of efforts to educate Liberians about the work of the commission. He said the campaign would last for three months. “ My visit to the US is also in keeping with the TRC’s public awareness campaign,” he said. “The task at hand is difficult, and we can not do it alone. We think there should be a vigorous involvement of Liberians in the work of the TRC. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support in helping us restore peace and stability to Liberia,” he noted.
Hearing Process
He said, “Following the tours, we will travel to Ghana and South Africa to attend workshops and after that, we will formally begin the hearing of cases in June. To ensure that every town or village in Liberia is reached during the hearing process, we have demarcated the country into eight zones.” He said the commission will hear all cases regardless of the individuals involved.
He explained, “The process will be democratic and accessible to all Liberians. Our work will be marked by diligence and honesty.” Chairman Vedier stated, “We will make sure that recommendations emanating from the commission are comprehensive and realistic.” Truth, he noted, “Is the path to reconciliation. So, people will have to account for their wrong doings.”
Legislative Immunity
He said the commission has the mandate to subpoena anyone accused of war crimes in Liberia. “The Act that created the TRC does not exclude anyone from appearing before the commission not even legislators.” Chairman Vedier who is also, a barrister by profession, argued, “I know that Article 42 of the Liberian constitution protects legislators from arrest while attending, going to or returning from sessions of the legislature, but they can be arrested for treason, felony or breach of the peace.”
“So, he went on, “If the need arises for a lawmaker or lawmakers to testify before the commission for acts committed during the civil war, we will subpoena them”. He maintained, no legislator or public official can claim any form of immunity as a means of evading appearance before the TRC because “We have the power to come after you”.
Justice, the youthful chairman promised, would be rendered. “We are Liberians and we know what happened in Liberia during the war. We don’t have to get complaints before citing anyone. We have the power to summon any Liberian to testify before the commission if doing so would be in the interest of the reconciliation process.”
He said the commission has contempt power to deal with anyone who may try to obstruct the work of the TRC. “We with the backing of the legal system, can impose fines and imprison for up to six months anyone who may elect to barricade our work.”
Funding
According to Chairman Vedier, the TRC has a very huge mandate. “Our work requires funding, resources, and collaboration at all levels. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support .” The TRC has a 10 million dollar budget that covers a two year period.
At the moment, the Chairman said, “ We have 900 thousand dollars of the 10 million dollars budgeted for our work.” He said, the money was donated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)…$ 300,000.00, the Danish government…$300,000.00, and the Liberian government…$ 300,000.00.
He stated that the Liberian government has also agreed to fund the TRC’s administrative cost which is put at $ 3 million. He said, “With this commitment from the Liberian government, we now have a gap of $ 7 million. That’s what we are now trying to raise.” Chairman Vedier pleaded with his fellow compatriots to get involve in the work of the commission. “We need your financial and logistical support in the accomplishment of our mission,” he pleaded.
TRC Hearings in US and Britain
Meanwhile, Liberia’s Consul General to the City of Philadelphia, Teta Banks, is calling on the TRC to establish hearing centers for Liberians in the United States and Britain. The Consul General reasoned that the creation of sites in the US and Britain would afford Liberians in both countries affected by the civil war to be a part of the commission’s adjudication process. “We want the hearing of cases evolving out of the civil war to be democratic and unlimited in terms of access,” She emphasized.
She said Liberian consulates in the US and Britain would conclude arrangements with the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), the Cable News Network (CNN), and C-Span for the telecast of TRC’s hearings without any cost to the Liberian government.
At the same time, the Co-chairman of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP) Board of Directors, Francis Duwana is urging the TRC to intensify its public awareness campaign. “The commission must devote time and resources to explaining its work because many people still do not understand the work of the commission,” Mr. Duwana, advised.
Making closing remarks at the LAP town hall meeting, Mr. Duwana noted the frequent misuse of the word, reconciliation by Liberian politicians and ordinary citizens. He said, the TRC must help Liberians understand and practicalize the essence of reconciliation. “Reconciliation in Liberia must be supported by truth telling. It must be a precipitating condition for genuine peace.”
The creation of a TRC to investigate and document abuses committed in Liberia during the civil war, is a not a new phenomenon to Africa. South Africa, was the first African nation to establish a truth and reconciliation commission. The National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34, passed in 1995 after the fall of apartheid created South Africa’s TRC. The commission was mandated to bear witness, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to perpetrators of crimes committed during the apartheid area.
Although the concept of TRC in peace building is controversial, truth telling has helped in unearthing abuses committed by authoritarian groups and leaderships in Africa and Latin America. The idea originated from Latin America where countries emerging out of long periods of authoritarian rule, such as Chile, and Argentina developed TRCs in order to expose and condemn human rights abuses committed under outgoing military regimes.
Blood letting in Liberia came to an end in 2003 following the signing of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement by contending parties to the civil war. The ended 14 years Liberian civil war claimed an estimated 200 thousand human lives and billions of dollars worth of properties. Liberia now has a democratically elected administration headed by Africa first female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Mrs. Sirleaf Was elected in 2005 during a special election held in November following the nation’s general and presidential elections in October of 2005.
Writes, Moses D. Sandy
Amnesty and the Liberian TRC: Who Is Pardonable?
By Aaron Sleh
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
April 18, 2006
http://www.theperspective.org/articles/0418200603.html
In the last analysis, Liberians were able to reach a peace agreement at Accra in 2003. But it was a case of disagreeing to agree, because before they reached the agreement there were many points of disagreement that had to be trashed out. One of the biggest bones of contention was the choice between a war crimes tribunal (WCT) and a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC).
Many delegates from civil society and the political parties, perhaps motivated by the chronic legacy of abuse and impunity, opted for a WCT because they wanted a retributive justice process which would punish the guilty. Others from the same groups felt that a restorative justice process aimed at reconciliation and healing represented the better means of breaking Liberia out of the cycle of violence and revenge, and mitigating the sharp antagonisms within society.
Warring factions opt for TRC
The representatives of the warring parties were in strong solidarity with this last position, for understandable reasons. United in their opposition to a WCT, they bargained strongly for a TRC. And it has to be remembered that they were in a very strong bargaining position. This, after all, was the height of the battles for military supremacy in Monrovia and Buchanan. Although there was a temporary ceasefire in place, this ceasefire was only that – temporary. Fighting could resume any day again with dire consequences for civilians on the ground. This fact was not lost on the facilitators, nor was it lost on the delegates, some of whom had left behind family members in the jaws of war as they made the journey to Accra.
These delegates knew that concessions had to be made with the factions in exchange for an end to the fighting. Justice, in the traditional legal sense, had to become a currency for purchasing peace. This would be nothing new. Earlier Liberian peace agreements had offered blanket amnesty to the belligerent parties and their combatants. At least at Accra, the opportunity for some form of accounting was possible.
And so, for better or for worse, the option of a TRC gained the ascendancy at Accra, and it was inscribed into the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) under Article XIII.
Support for and opposition to a TRC, vis-à-vis a WCT, was largely informed by stereotypes of what these mechanisms are and what they do. For many delegates, the operative understanding of a TRC was shaped by what they knew about, for instance, the South African TRC, which granted amnesty in exchange for truth. The fact that next-door Sierra Leone had a WCT in addition to a TRC only reinforced the notion that the TRC was mainly about amnesty in exchange for truth from the perpetrators, while the WCT was about punishing guilty perpetrators.
With such a semantical construct as the frame of reference for assessing the TRC idea, it can be understood why certain groups opposed and others supported the option of a TRC. The correlation of forces locked in debate on this issue at Accra is quite predictable. Warring party representatives perhaps hoped that blanket amnesty would be granted to their combatants and operatives under a TRC, while some civil society and political party representatives feared that the TRC would codify the evasion of justice and entrench the impunity regime from which they had suffered for so long in their struggle for a wider democratic space in Liberia.
What does TRC Act says about amnesty?
As at the writing of this piece, different groups and different individuals still harbor conflicting expectations of what a TRC is and what it is not. Now that a TRC is in place, the question arises: what is the gap between people’s expectations of the TRC on the one hand, and the actual possibilities of the TRC on the other? Can the TRC recommend amnesty for proven perpetrators? Can any and every perpetrator be recommended for amnesty? Who is pardonable through the TRC? We will begin our answer to these questions by taking you on a trip to Article VII Section 26g of the TRC Act. It states that the functions and powers of the Commission shall include:
“Recommending amnesty under terms and conditions established by the TRC upon application of individual persons making full disclosures of their wrongs and thereby expressing remorse for their acts and/or omissions, whether as an accomplice or a perpetrator, provided that amnesty or exoneration shall not apply to violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity in conformity with international laws and standards…” (Emphasis added.)
It is clear from this section of the Act that not all violations are pardonable. And since violations do not occur in isolation of violators, it means too that there are certain categories of perpetrators who cannot be recommended for amnesty by the TRC, and therefore cannot be granted amnesty through the TR process. These include persons liable for war crimes or crimes against humanity, as well as violators of international humanitarian law or international human rights law.
But these are all categories of crimes, not specific crimes. Not everybody will be able to associate specific violations with their proper category. It is therefore useful – no, imperative! – that we put these categories of violations in context, using for our reference set the full range of abuses committed in the course of Liberian history, especially the period 1979 – 2003 which is of primary concern to the truth and reconciliation process. We will now identify some of these violations and associate them with their categories later.
From 1979 up to the end of the battle for Monrovia in 2003, Liberians have been subjected to a broad array of criminal and inhumane treatment. These have included: forced labor, eviction by force of arms, torture, forced conscription, conscription of children as soldiers, rape, sexual slavery, sodomy, mutilation, pillage, plunder of public and private property, wanton destruction of villages, imprisonment, unlawful deprivation of physical liberty, murder, massacre, beatings, military attacks against civilians, desecration of religious shrines and places of worship, collective punishment, acts and threats of violence against civilians, genocide, as well as torture and murder of captured or surrendered enemy combatants.
The list of abuses is truly long, though one could still go on. But which of these abuses fall under the prohibitive categories? This depends on what laws are applicable before the TRC. We are yet to find out. But if the Sierra Leonean TRC is something to go by, then one can conclude that all international conventions currently in force are applicable before the Liberian TRC.
What are some of these conventions, and what do they say about the mentioned violations? Let us find out.
Key International Conventions in the Context of the TR Process
The Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention, Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Conflicts (Protocol II) states in Article 4:
“…All persons who do not take a direct part or who have ceased to take part in hostilities…shall…be treated humanely…[T]he following acts against [these] persons…are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever:…(a) violence to [their] life, health and physical or mental well-being…in particular murder…torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment…”
The same article prohibits “Collective punishments”, “Pillage”, and the recruitment into “armed forces or groups” of children under fifteen years of age.
In Article 13 Paragraph 2, the Protocol enjoins that, “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack.” It prohibits “[a]cts or threats of violence [with] the primary purpose of…spread[ing] terror among the civilian population…”
We mention genocide in the list of crimes. This may come as a shock to many, since this crime has not been mentioned seriously before in relation to Liberia. But let us define what genocide is; this may shed a brighter light on the issue.
According to Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which was approved by UN General Assembly Resolution 260 A (III) on 9 December 1948 and entered into force on 12 January 1951, “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as…killing members of the group…”
Exactly this same definition is maintained in Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The targeted killings in the 1990s of Gio and Mano people by Samuel Doe’s loyalists and elements of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) on the one hand, and the reciprocal killings of Krahns and Mandingoes by the NPFL and INPFL on the other, certainly fit the definition of genocide, unless we want to argue that these groups do not qualify as “ethnical” groups, or that their killers did not have “intent” to destroy them “in whole or in part”.
Then why did the United Nations or the United States not raise alarm about genocide in Liberia? Well, in Article 1 of the same convention, the “contracting parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in times of peace or in times of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish”. If the UN or the US had called attention to genocide in Liberia, they would have had to act decisively and immediately to intervene in the Liberian crisis, something they did not seem willing to do for a very long time. Hiding behind the cover of semantics, therefore, they refused to define what was obtaining in Liberia as genocide, a performance they would repeat many years later in Rwanda with disastrous consequences. But that is a story for another day. Back to the conventions.
Another applicable and relevant instrument is the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, which entered into force on 11 November 1970 following adoption by UN General Assembly Resolution 2391 (XXIII) on 26 November 1968.
The convention declares in Article 1 that “No statutory limitation shall apply to…[w]ar crimes as defined in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, of 8 August 1945 and…[c]rimes against humanity as defined in the [same] charter…”
Well then, how are war crimes and crimes against humanity defined in the above mentioned Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) of Nuremberg? Article 6b of the IMT Charter defines war crimes as follows:
“WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment…of civilian population…murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war…killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity…”
Article 6c defines the following:
“CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population…”
Article 6 further states: “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.”
There has been “no specialized international convention since [the IMT] on crimes against humanity. Still, that category of crimes has been included in the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)…” In fact, the ICTY and the ICTR have expanded the list of “specific crimes contained within the meaning of crimes against humanity…to include…rape and torture…” (M. Cherif Bassiouni, Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law, Springer, 1999.).
Finally, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the latest international instrument to define crimes against humanity. Article 7 of the ICC Statutes states:
“For the purpose of this Statute, “crimes against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attack…(a) Murder…(b) Extermination…(d)…forcible transfer of population…(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law…(f) Torture…(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution…and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity…(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural …grounds…(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.”
In the face of all the foregoing citations from international legal instruments, it should be clear as crystal that the crimes in Liberian history previously enumerated all constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both. To the extent that the crimes come under any of these categories, to that same extent are they also violations of international humanitarian law, which is the body of laws (including the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols) which govern the conduct of armed conflicts, be they inter-state conflicts or civil wars.
Some of the crimes, such as torture and the conscription of children as soldiers, go on to violate key international human rights conventions, including the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). These crimes are therefore grave breaches of international Human Rights Law.
Any and all persons liable for a single one of these violations are categorically exempted from amnesty via the TRC, consistent with Article VII Section 26g of the TRC’s constitutive act.
Having laid this theoretical groundwork, we will now situate our conclusions within the context of the TRC proceedings by doing a pre-emptive analysis of some of the cases that are likely to come before the Truth Commission. We will commence with cases arising out of the last round of fighting between Taylor’s forces and the LURD-MODEL axis, and progress backward in time. Let us begin with Greystone.
Mortar Attacks On Greystone
During the so-called world war III in 2003, a sustained mortar attack was mounted against the Greystone Compound, a civilian facility providing refuge to displaced people in Monrovia. As a result of these attacks, many dozens of men, women and babies were maimed and slaughtered. The attacks amount to a brazen violation of the laws of armed conflict. They are war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court of public opinion has already passed a guilty verdict against the LURD organization for these abuses. Assuming that the TRC reaches a similar decision, then individuals like Sekou Diamate Conneh, Aisha Conneh, General Sheriff, General Prince Sio and others could be found culpable for the Greystone slaughter. They would not be eligible for amnesty for these violations.
Punitive Attacks Against New Kru Town
As LURD made her advance from Po River to Monrovia, New Kru Town (and surrounding areas) exchanged hands at least twice between the opposing forces. On the two occasions that Taylor’s forces re-captured New Kru Town, they went on a spree of violence. They subjected civilians in the area to beatings, torture and murder on the grounds that the civilians were sympathetic to the insurgents. This even prompted the civilians on one occasion to appeal to LURD not to withdraw from the area, as they were planning to do, for fear that Taylor’s forces would subject them to further reprisals. These actions by Taylor’s forces are crimes of war and crimes against humanity. Former Defense Minister Daniel Chea, Mr. Benjamin Yeaten, General Roland Duo, among others, who were leading Taylor’s forces might have to answer for these violations. Anyone found liable is not entitled to amnesty.
Violence Against Civilians in Bassa, Lofa, Southeast by MODEL, LURD, GOL
In Buchanan, Lofa and parts of Southeastern Liberia, MODEL forces, LURD troops and Taylor’s militia are on record for brutalizing civilians and subjecting them to inhumane treatment without justification, and without punishment from their leaders. When these acts of violence against civilians in Buchanan are brought before the TRC, people like Thomas Yaya Nimely, Joe Wylie and others might have to answer. These violations would render these men ineligible for amnesty unless they are found to be blameless.
Torture, Sexual Violence and Murder at Gbatala, Watanga, and Other Places
In its various metamorphoses, the ATU of Charles Taylor, under the commands of Chucky Taylor, and Momo Geeba is alleged to have carried out some of the worst acts of systematic violence against people. Men were sodomized, and women were gang raped as acts of torture, and as acts of terrorism to frighten the general population. Others were wrapped in mattresses and subjected to brutal beatings until they suffered internal bleeding. These acts are alleged to have taken place at the ATU base in Gbatala, in the Taylor militia enclave called Watanga, and in the basement of the Executive Mansion. Unless the evidence is inadequate, people like Momo Geebah, Chucky Taylor, Charles Taylor and others could be found guilty of these violations of international humanitarian law which are also violations against humanity. They cannot receive amnesty under those circumstances.
September 18 Massacres
On 18 September 1998, government forces launched a massive assault on the residence of the late General Roosevelt Johnson of ULIMO forces, with the aim of “restoring law and order to Camp Johnson Road”. In the course of this offensive, civilians seeking shelter in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church were massacred, allegedly for government troops. Another group of civilians taking refuge in the Ministry of Public Works Compound (the current offices of the TRC) were massacred by the same troops. Former president Charles Taylor, Daniel Chea, Benjamin Yeaten, Charles “Chucky” Taylor Jr., General Ami, Sahr Gbollie, and others could be held accountable for these massacres which are grave violations of international humanitarian law, war violations, and violations against humanity. If they are, they would be disqualified from receiving amnesty.
ULIMO in Lofa
The people of Lofa were subjected to systematic violence - including torture, murder and rape – by ULIMO forces during their campaign to dislodge Charles Taylor. Despite several cries of outrage in the press, these violations are alleged to have continued with impunity. General Alhaji Kromah and others could be held liable for these violations during the TR process. If they are, they will not be entitled to amnesty.
LPC in Sinoe
Gruesome horrors are still recorded on the memories of many who witnessed or experienced LPC’s reign of terror in Sinoe County in the 1990s. It is alleged that people were impaled, mutilated and murdered on a casual basis. These are heinous abuses, all of which are violative of international human rights laws. They are also war crimes and crimes against humanity. If people like Dr. George Boley, Teh Quiah and others are found guilty of these abuses, no amnesty can apply to them.
Operation Octopus
In execution of the infamous “Operation Octopus” in 1992, the NPFL conscripted, drugged, armed and pushed to their deaths, hundreds of children under the age of fifteen. These acts are violations of international law. Mr. John T. Richardson, the alleged architect of this campaign, could be found liable as a war criminal along with others, including Isaac Musa and Charles Taylor. If he is, he would not be entitled to amnesty.
Capture, Torture, Mutilation and Murder of Samuel Doe
When General Prince Johnson captured Samuel Doe, the ex-President was now entitled to his protection according to the laws of war. By torturing, mutilating and murdering Doe, an enemy combatant, Prince Johnson came into flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. He and his collaborators in this affair could be held liable as war criminals. This would deny them access to amnesty from the TRC.
NPFL/AFL Violence in 1990
Probably the highest level of violence in Liberia was perpetrated in 1990. AFL death squads went on a killing spree, murdering civilians on a systematic basis. In a macabre game to guess the sex of unborn children, NPFL fighters eviscerated pregnant women on a wide scale. Other women and under-aged girls were raped, and held as sex slaves. People were killed for their looks, for their tribes, and for their possessions. Villages were razed to the ground, people were subjected to forced labor, and children were conscripted as child soldiers. General Isaac Musa, Mr. Tom Woeweiyu, General Charles Julu, among others, could be found responsible for these violations and abuses. Once they are, they will not be qualified for amnesty.
Systematic and Widespread killing of Gio, Mano, Krahn and Mandingo People
It can be argued that four separate cases of genocide occurred in Liberia in 1990. Samuel Doe’s loyalists went on a blood lust, hunting, pursuing and murdering members of the Gio and Mano ethnic group on widespread and systematic basis. Some of the names associated with these violations include General Charles Julu, Mr. George Dweh, Mr. Edward Slanger, among others.
On the flip side, forces of the NPFL and the INPFL systematically targeted Krahn and Mandingo tribesmen, murdering them on a wide scale. General Prince Johnson, General Adolphus Dolo, and others could be linked to these killings. These acts amount to genocide, although they have not generally been described as such. Genocide is a major crime against humanity. These men and their collaborators and accomplices would not be entitled to amnesty if they are determined to be liable for these acts.
Lutheran Church Massacre
The Lutheran Church Massacre and the massacre at the UNDP Compound in Congo Town was a massacre against civilians. These violations are generally attributed to General Charles Julu, Mr. George Dweh and others. These are war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law and of international human rights law. Unless these suspected persons are found to be innocent, they are exempt from amnesty.
University of Liberia Massacre
On 22 August 1984, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia attacked the Monrovia campus of the University of Liberia. The raped female students, shot at and killed dozens of unarmed students. The order to attack the UL campus came from the late President Samuel Doe to deceased Defense Minister Gray D. Allison, who passed it on to AFL Chief of Staff General Henry Dubar. General Henry Dubar may have to answer to the TRC for his role in this wicked act which amount to crimes against humanity. Unless he is found blameless, he will not be qualified for amnesty.
Conclusion
At this point it is easy to draw the conclusion that there are quite a number of likely perpetrators who may be ineligible for inclusion on the list of persons recommended by the TRC for amnesty. Is this a good thing or what? Liberians will have to be the best judge of that.
But it is important to project these issues onto the public consciousness now, so as to protect the credibility of the TR process. People must understand clearly what to expect from the process. When people are not enlightened in advance, they may approach this process with misconceptions and misplaced assumptions. In such cases, they are bound to be disappointed and might react with feelings or even with claims that the TRC has misled them, deceived them, or betrayed them. We want to avoid this.
We realize that the points raised in this paper could discourage certain categories of perpetrators from coming forth with full disclosures. Let that be their choice. This society, for its part, cannot afford for the TR process to be less than fully transparent. As people engage the TRC, let them know what they are going in for. This is simply the right thing to do.
In summary, the TRC can recommend amnesty in exchange for full disclosures, but it can only do that for some violations and abuses. Those guilty of certain other abuses cannot be recommended for pardon by the TRC. As far as the TR process is concerned, these individuals are beyond forgiveness.
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
April 18, 2006
http://www.theperspective.org/articles/0418200603.html
In the last analysis, Liberians were able to reach a peace agreement at Accra in 2003. But it was a case of disagreeing to agree, because before they reached the agreement there were many points of disagreement that had to be trashed out. One of the biggest bones of contention was the choice between a war crimes tribunal (WCT) and a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC).
Many delegates from civil society and the political parties, perhaps motivated by the chronic legacy of abuse and impunity, opted for a WCT because they wanted a retributive justice process which would punish the guilty. Others from the same groups felt that a restorative justice process aimed at reconciliation and healing represented the better means of breaking Liberia out of the cycle of violence and revenge, and mitigating the sharp antagonisms within society.
Warring factions opt for TRC
The representatives of the warring parties were in strong solidarity with this last position, for understandable reasons. United in their opposition to a WCT, they bargained strongly for a TRC. And it has to be remembered that they were in a very strong bargaining position. This, after all, was the height of the battles for military supremacy in Monrovia and Buchanan. Although there was a temporary ceasefire in place, this ceasefire was only that – temporary. Fighting could resume any day again with dire consequences for civilians on the ground. This fact was not lost on the facilitators, nor was it lost on the delegates, some of whom had left behind family members in the jaws of war as they made the journey to Accra.
These delegates knew that concessions had to be made with the factions in exchange for an end to the fighting. Justice, in the traditional legal sense, had to become a currency for purchasing peace. This would be nothing new. Earlier Liberian peace agreements had offered blanket amnesty to the belligerent parties and their combatants. At least at Accra, the opportunity for some form of accounting was possible.
And so, for better or for worse, the option of a TRC gained the ascendancy at Accra, and it was inscribed into the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) under Article XIII.
Support for and opposition to a TRC, vis-à-vis a WCT, was largely informed by stereotypes of what these mechanisms are and what they do. For many delegates, the operative understanding of a TRC was shaped by what they knew about, for instance, the South African TRC, which granted amnesty in exchange for truth. The fact that next-door Sierra Leone had a WCT in addition to a TRC only reinforced the notion that the TRC was mainly about amnesty in exchange for truth from the perpetrators, while the WCT was about punishing guilty perpetrators.
With such a semantical construct as the frame of reference for assessing the TRC idea, it can be understood why certain groups opposed and others supported the option of a TRC. The correlation of forces locked in debate on this issue at Accra is quite predictable. Warring party representatives perhaps hoped that blanket amnesty would be granted to their combatants and operatives under a TRC, while some civil society and political party representatives feared that the TRC would codify the evasion of justice and entrench the impunity regime from which they had suffered for so long in their struggle for a wider democratic space in Liberia.
What does TRC Act says about amnesty?
As at the writing of this piece, different groups and different individuals still harbor conflicting expectations of what a TRC is and what it is not. Now that a TRC is in place, the question arises: what is the gap between people’s expectations of the TRC on the one hand, and the actual possibilities of the TRC on the other? Can the TRC recommend amnesty for proven perpetrators? Can any and every perpetrator be recommended for amnesty? Who is pardonable through the TRC? We will begin our answer to these questions by taking you on a trip to Article VII Section 26g of the TRC Act. It states that the functions and powers of the Commission shall include:
“Recommending amnesty under terms and conditions established by the TRC upon application of individual persons making full disclosures of their wrongs and thereby expressing remorse for their acts and/or omissions, whether as an accomplice or a perpetrator, provided that amnesty or exoneration shall not apply to violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity in conformity with international laws and standards…” (Emphasis added.)
It is clear from this section of the Act that not all violations are pardonable. And since violations do not occur in isolation of violators, it means too that there are certain categories of perpetrators who cannot be recommended for amnesty by the TRC, and therefore cannot be granted amnesty through the TR process. These include persons liable for war crimes or crimes against humanity, as well as violators of international humanitarian law or international human rights law.
But these are all categories of crimes, not specific crimes. Not everybody will be able to associate specific violations with their proper category. It is therefore useful – no, imperative! – that we put these categories of violations in context, using for our reference set the full range of abuses committed in the course of Liberian history, especially the period 1979 – 2003 which is of primary concern to the truth and reconciliation process. We will now identify some of these violations and associate them with their categories later.
From 1979 up to the end of the battle for Monrovia in 2003, Liberians have been subjected to a broad array of criminal and inhumane treatment. These have included: forced labor, eviction by force of arms, torture, forced conscription, conscription of children as soldiers, rape, sexual slavery, sodomy, mutilation, pillage, plunder of public and private property, wanton destruction of villages, imprisonment, unlawful deprivation of physical liberty, murder, massacre, beatings, military attacks against civilians, desecration of religious shrines and places of worship, collective punishment, acts and threats of violence against civilians, genocide, as well as torture and murder of captured or surrendered enemy combatants.
The list of abuses is truly long, though one could still go on. But which of these abuses fall under the prohibitive categories? This depends on what laws are applicable before the TRC. We are yet to find out. But if the Sierra Leonean TRC is something to go by, then one can conclude that all international conventions currently in force are applicable before the Liberian TRC.
What are some of these conventions, and what do they say about the mentioned violations? Let us find out.
Key International Conventions in the Context of the TR Process
The Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention, Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Conflicts (Protocol II) states in Article 4:
“…All persons who do not take a direct part or who have ceased to take part in hostilities…shall…be treated humanely…[T]he following acts against [these] persons…are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever:…(a) violence to [their] life, health and physical or mental well-being…in particular murder…torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment…”
The same article prohibits “Collective punishments”, “Pillage”, and the recruitment into “armed forces or groups” of children under fifteen years of age.
In Article 13 Paragraph 2, the Protocol enjoins that, “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack.” It prohibits “[a]cts or threats of violence [with] the primary purpose of…spread[ing] terror among the civilian population…”
We mention genocide in the list of crimes. This may come as a shock to many, since this crime has not been mentioned seriously before in relation to Liberia. But let us define what genocide is; this may shed a brighter light on the issue.
According to Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which was approved by UN General Assembly Resolution 260 A (III) on 9 December 1948 and entered into force on 12 January 1951, “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as…killing members of the group…”
Exactly this same definition is maintained in Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The targeted killings in the 1990s of Gio and Mano people by Samuel Doe’s loyalists and elements of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) on the one hand, and the reciprocal killings of Krahns and Mandingoes by the NPFL and INPFL on the other, certainly fit the definition of genocide, unless we want to argue that these groups do not qualify as “ethnical” groups, or that their killers did not have “intent” to destroy them “in whole or in part”.
Then why did the United Nations or the United States not raise alarm about genocide in Liberia? Well, in Article 1 of the same convention, the “contracting parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in times of peace or in times of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish”. If the UN or the US had called attention to genocide in Liberia, they would have had to act decisively and immediately to intervene in the Liberian crisis, something they did not seem willing to do for a very long time. Hiding behind the cover of semantics, therefore, they refused to define what was obtaining in Liberia as genocide, a performance they would repeat many years later in Rwanda with disastrous consequences. But that is a story for another day. Back to the conventions.
Another applicable and relevant instrument is the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, which entered into force on 11 November 1970 following adoption by UN General Assembly Resolution 2391 (XXIII) on 26 November 1968.
The convention declares in Article 1 that “No statutory limitation shall apply to…[w]ar crimes as defined in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, of 8 August 1945 and…[c]rimes against humanity as defined in the [same] charter…”
Well then, how are war crimes and crimes against humanity defined in the above mentioned Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) of Nuremberg? Article 6b of the IMT Charter defines war crimes as follows:
“WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment…of civilian population…murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war…killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity…”
Article 6c defines the following:
“CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population…”
Article 6 further states: “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.”
There has been “no specialized international convention since [the IMT] on crimes against humanity. Still, that category of crimes has been included in the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)…” In fact, the ICTY and the ICTR have expanded the list of “specific crimes contained within the meaning of crimes against humanity…to include…rape and torture…” (M. Cherif Bassiouni, Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law, Springer, 1999.).
Finally, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the latest international instrument to define crimes against humanity. Article 7 of the ICC Statutes states:
“For the purpose of this Statute, “crimes against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attack…(a) Murder…(b) Extermination…(d)…forcible transfer of population…(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law…(f) Torture…(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution…and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity…(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural …grounds…(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.”
In the face of all the foregoing citations from international legal instruments, it should be clear as crystal that the crimes in Liberian history previously enumerated all constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, or both. To the extent that the crimes come under any of these categories, to that same extent are they also violations of international humanitarian law, which is the body of laws (including the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols) which govern the conduct of armed conflicts, be they inter-state conflicts or civil wars.
Some of the crimes, such as torture and the conscription of children as soldiers, go on to violate key international human rights conventions, including the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). These crimes are therefore grave breaches of international Human Rights Law.
Any and all persons liable for a single one of these violations are categorically exempted from amnesty via the TRC, consistent with Article VII Section 26g of the TRC’s constitutive act.
Having laid this theoretical groundwork, we will now situate our conclusions within the context of the TRC proceedings by doing a pre-emptive analysis of some of the cases that are likely to come before the Truth Commission. We will commence with cases arising out of the last round of fighting between Taylor’s forces and the LURD-MODEL axis, and progress backward in time. Let us begin with Greystone.
Mortar Attacks On Greystone
During the so-called world war III in 2003, a sustained mortar attack was mounted against the Greystone Compound, a civilian facility providing refuge to displaced people in Monrovia. As a result of these attacks, many dozens of men, women and babies were maimed and slaughtered. The attacks amount to a brazen violation of the laws of armed conflict. They are war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court of public opinion has already passed a guilty verdict against the LURD organization for these abuses. Assuming that the TRC reaches a similar decision, then individuals like Sekou Diamate Conneh, Aisha Conneh, General Sheriff, General Prince Sio and others could be found culpable for the Greystone slaughter. They would not be eligible for amnesty for these violations.
Punitive Attacks Against New Kru Town
As LURD made her advance from Po River to Monrovia, New Kru Town (and surrounding areas) exchanged hands at least twice between the opposing forces. On the two occasions that Taylor’s forces re-captured New Kru Town, they went on a spree of violence. They subjected civilians in the area to beatings, torture and murder on the grounds that the civilians were sympathetic to the insurgents. This even prompted the civilians on one occasion to appeal to LURD not to withdraw from the area, as they were planning to do, for fear that Taylor’s forces would subject them to further reprisals. These actions by Taylor’s forces are crimes of war and crimes against humanity. Former Defense Minister Daniel Chea, Mr. Benjamin Yeaten, General Roland Duo, among others, who were leading Taylor’s forces might have to answer for these violations. Anyone found liable is not entitled to amnesty.
Violence Against Civilians in Bassa, Lofa, Southeast by MODEL, LURD, GOL
In Buchanan, Lofa and parts of Southeastern Liberia, MODEL forces, LURD troops and Taylor’s militia are on record for brutalizing civilians and subjecting them to inhumane treatment without justification, and without punishment from their leaders. When these acts of violence against civilians in Buchanan are brought before the TRC, people like Thomas Yaya Nimely, Joe Wylie and others might have to answer. These violations would render these men ineligible for amnesty unless they are found to be blameless.
Torture, Sexual Violence and Murder at Gbatala, Watanga, and Other Places
In its various metamorphoses, the ATU of Charles Taylor, under the commands of Chucky Taylor, and Momo Geeba is alleged to have carried out some of the worst acts of systematic violence against people. Men were sodomized, and women were gang raped as acts of torture, and as acts of terrorism to frighten the general population. Others were wrapped in mattresses and subjected to brutal beatings until they suffered internal bleeding. These acts are alleged to have taken place at the ATU base in Gbatala, in the Taylor militia enclave called Watanga, and in the basement of the Executive Mansion. Unless the evidence is inadequate, people like Momo Geebah, Chucky Taylor, Charles Taylor and others could be found guilty of these violations of international humanitarian law which are also violations against humanity. They cannot receive amnesty under those circumstances.
September 18 Massacres
On 18 September 1998, government forces launched a massive assault on the residence of the late General Roosevelt Johnson of ULIMO forces, with the aim of “restoring law and order to Camp Johnson Road”. In the course of this offensive, civilians seeking shelter in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church were massacred, allegedly for government troops. Another group of civilians taking refuge in the Ministry of Public Works Compound (the current offices of the TRC) were massacred by the same troops. Former president Charles Taylor, Daniel Chea, Benjamin Yeaten, Charles “Chucky” Taylor Jr., General Ami, Sahr Gbollie, and others could be held accountable for these massacres which are grave violations of international humanitarian law, war violations, and violations against humanity. If they are, they would be disqualified from receiving amnesty.
ULIMO in Lofa
The people of Lofa were subjected to systematic violence - including torture, murder and rape – by ULIMO forces during their campaign to dislodge Charles Taylor. Despite several cries of outrage in the press, these violations are alleged to have continued with impunity. General Alhaji Kromah and others could be held liable for these violations during the TR process. If they are, they will not be entitled to amnesty.
LPC in Sinoe
Gruesome horrors are still recorded on the memories of many who witnessed or experienced LPC’s reign of terror in Sinoe County in the 1990s. It is alleged that people were impaled, mutilated and murdered on a casual basis. These are heinous abuses, all of which are violative of international human rights laws. They are also war crimes and crimes against humanity. If people like Dr. George Boley, Teh Quiah and others are found guilty of these abuses, no amnesty can apply to them.
Operation Octopus
In execution of the infamous “Operation Octopus” in 1992, the NPFL conscripted, drugged, armed and pushed to their deaths, hundreds of children under the age of fifteen. These acts are violations of international law. Mr. John T. Richardson, the alleged architect of this campaign, could be found liable as a war criminal along with others, including Isaac Musa and Charles Taylor. If he is, he would not be entitled to amnesty.
Capture, Torture, Mutilation and Murder of Samuel Doe
When General Prince Johnson captured Samuel Doe, the ex-President was now entitled to his protection according to the laws of war. By torturing, mutilating and murdering Doe, an enemy combatant, Prince Johnson came into flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. He and his collaborators in this affair could be held liable as war criminals. This would deny them access to amnesty from the TRC.
NPFL/AFL Violence in 1990
Probably the highest level of violence in Liberia was perpetrated in 1990. AFL death squads went on a killing spree, murdering civilians on a systematic basis. In a macabre game to guess the sex of unborn children, NPFL fighters eviscerated pregnant women on a wide scale. Other women and under-aged girls were raped, and held as sex slaves. People were killed for their looks, for their tribes, and for their possessions. Villages were razed to the ground, people were subjected to forced labor, and children were conscripted as child soldiers. General Isaac Musa, Mr. Tom Woeweiyu, General Charles Julu, among others, could be found responsible for these violations and abuses. Once they are, they will not be qualified for amnesty.
Systematic and Widespread killing of Gio, Mano, Krahn and Mandingo People
It can be argued that four separate cases of genocide occurred in Liberia in 1990. Samuel Doe’s loyalists went on a blood lust, hunting, pursuing and murdering members of the Gio and Mano ethnic group on widespread and systematic basis. Some of the names associated with these violations include General Charles Julu, Mr. George Dweh, Mr. Edward Slanger, among others.
On the flip side, forces of the NPFL and the INPFL systematically targeted Krahn and Mandingo tribesmen, murdering them on a wide scale. General Prince Johnson, General Adolphus Dolo, and others could be linked to these killings. These acts amount to genocide, although they have not generally been described as such. Genocide is a major crime against humanity. These men and their collaborators and accomplices would not be entitled to amnesty if they are determined to be liable for these acts.
Lutheran Church Massacre
The Lutheran Church Massacre and the massacre at the UNDP Compound in Congo Town was a massacre against civilians. These violations are generally attributed to General Charles Julu, Mr. George Dweh and others. These are war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law and of international human rights law. Unless these suspected persons are found to be innocent, they are exempt from amnesty.
University of Liberia Massacre
On 22 August 1984, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia attacked the Monrovia campus of the University of Liberia. The raped female students, shot at and killed dozens of unarmed students. The order to attack the UL campus came from the late President Samuel Doe to deceased Defense Minister Gray D. Allison, who passed it on to AFL Chief of Staff General Henry Dubar. General Henry Dubar may have to answer to the TRC for his role in this wicked act which amount to crimes against humanity. Unless he is found blameless, he will not be qualified for amnesty.
Conclusion
At this point it is easy to draw the conclusion that there are quite a number of likely perpetrators who may be ineligible for inclusion on the list of persons recommended by the TRC for amnesty. Is this a good thing or what? Liberians will have to be the best judge of that.
But it is important to project these issues onto the public consciousness now, so as to protect the credibility of the TR process. People must understand clearly what to expect from the process. When people are not enlightened in advance, they may approach this process with misconceptions and misplaced assumptions. In such cases, they are bound to be disappointed and might react with feelings or even with claims that the TRC has misled them, deceived them, or betrayed them. We want to avoid this.
We realize that the points raised in this paper could discourage certain categories of perpetrators from coming forth with full disclosures. Let that be their choice. This society, for its part, cannot afford for the TR process to be less than fully transparent. As people engage the TRC, let them know what they are going in for. This is simply the right thing to do.
In summary, the TRC can recommend amnesty in exchange for full disclosures, but it can only do that for some violations and abuses. Those guilty of certain other abuses cannot be recommended for pardon by the TRC. As far as the TR process is concerned, these individuals are beyond forgiveness.
TRC Delegation Off To S/Africa
Monday, May 29, 2006
http://www.analystnewspaper.com/trc_delegation_off_to_sa_may29.html
The Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier, at the head of a 9-man TRC delegation, is currently on a study tour and capacity program building in South Africa.
A TRC press released issued yesterday said the tour and study were planned in collaboration with the South African Foundation for Human Rights to broaden the perspectives of the commissioners of TRC on issues of transitional justice and the experiences of South Africans and others.
• Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier
“The out-of-country venue of the training will accord the Commission the opportunity to interact with former members and operatives of the South African TRC, and provide a great learning experience for the participants,” the release said.
Due to its importance to the success of the program and activities for truth and reconciliation in Liberia, the release, the TRC was considering it a vital component of strategies aimed at orienting its key officers and enhancing their capacities to effectively discharge their obligations under the TRC Act.
In a related Chairman Verdier over the weekend, returned form the U.S. where he attended a conference on Reparation for Gender-based Violence and the challenges of the Liberian TRC.
The conference was organized by the Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) based in New York. Chairman Verdier’s visit to the U.S. was also aimed at the establishment of direct relationship with potential partners and donors to update them on the work of the TRC and explore funding possibilities, the release said.
While there, he met with State and Justice Department officials in Washington D.C. and discussed issues related to the TRC in Liberia.
He also met with members of the Liberian Community in the U.S. and addressed a town hall meeting in Philadelphia during which the community expressed delight in the TRC and underscored the need for all Liberia in the Diaspora including Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria, to support and fully participate in the TRC process.
RPP Agrees On TRC Draft Document - As IRI Pledges Commitment
Registered political parties have agreed to a new draft document which according to them represents their support and commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and also say such document is in the spirit and intend of the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA).
The draft document on the TRC by the political parties was adopted last Friday at a one-day Consultative Working Session in continuation of previous meeting with the officials of the TRC.
It was organized by the Pro-American based Democracy Group International Republican Institute (IRI) with funding from the United States Aid for International Development (USAID).
During the meeting which was held at a local hotel in Mamba Point, 30 executives from nearly 15 registered political parties reaffirmed to the document and intend of the CPA upon which the TRC was established.
In the draft document, the parties pledged to take the mandate to members of their respective political parties through series of leadership workshops and also promised to encourage and assist individuals from their parties to appear before the TRC when they are summoned.
The registered political parties also committed themselves to making recommendations from the amendment of any clause in the act creating the TRC that possesses any real and present threats and or objectives to the accomplishment of the work of the commission.
“Protection for all perpetrators against prosecution based on their testimonies whether made voluntarily or induced, providing opportunities for victims and perpetrators of human rights violation to share their experiences are of cancers to the TRC,” it is stated in the draft document.
The RPP agreed that the draft document on the TRC would be circulated to their various parties to make and recommend possible changes that would lead to a final TRC document from political parties as they are major stakeholders to the CPA.
Speaking at the close of the consultative meeting, the new Country Director of IRI, Pete Meachum said it was important for political parties to take the lead in the mandate of the TRC, saying that their role is key and decisive to the success of the TRC in Liberia.
The new IRI Country Director also used the occasion to reaffirm his organization’s commitment to enhancing and building the capacities of RPP for the building of “a real and true democracy in Liberia.”
Parties represented at the meeting include the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), All Liberians Coalition Party (ALCOP), the New DEAL Movement, the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) and the ruling Unity Party (UP).
http://www.analystnewspaper.com/trc_delegation_off_to_sa_may29.html
The Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier, at the head of a 9-man TRC delegation, is currently on a study tour and capacity program building in South Africa.
A TRC press released issued yesterday said the tour and study were planned in collaboration with the South African Foundation for Human Rights to broaden the perspectives of the commissioners of TRC on issues of transitional justice and the experiences of South Africans and others.
• Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier
“The out-of-country venue of the training will accord the Commission the opportunity to interact with former members and operatives of the South African TRC, and provide a great learning experience for the participants,” the release said.
Due to its importance to the success of the program and activities for truth and reconciliation in Liberia, the release, the TRC was considering it a vital component of strategies aimed at orienting its key officers and enhancing their capacities to effectively discharge their obligations under the TRC Act.
In a related Chairman Verdier over the weekend, returned form the U.S. where he attended a conference on Reparation for Gender-based Violence and the challenges of the Liberian TRC.
The conference was organized by the Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) based in New York. Chairman Verdier’s visit to the U.S. was also aimed at the establishment of direct relationship with potential partners and donors to update them on the work of the TRC and explore funding possibilities, the release said.
While there, he met with State and Justice Department officials in Washington D.C. and discussed issues related to the TRC in Liberia.
He also met with members of the Liberian Community in the U.S. and addressed a town hall meeting in Philadelphia during which the community expressed delight in the TRC and underscored the need for all Liberia in the Diaspora including Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria, to support and fully participate in the TRC process.
RPP Agrees On TRC Draft Document - As IRI Pledges Commitment
Registered political parties have agreed to a new draft document which according to them represents their support and commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and also say such document is in the spirit and intend of the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA).
The draft document on the TRC by the political parties was adopted last Friday at a one-day Consultative Working Session in continuation of previous meeting with the officials of the TRC.
It was organized by the Pro-American based Democracy Group International Republican Institute (IRI) with funding from the United States Aid for International Development (USAID).
During the meeting which was held at a local hotel in Mamba Point, 30 executives from nearly 15 registered political parties reaffirmed to the document and intend of the CPA upon which the TRC was established.
In the draft document, the parties pledged to take the mandate to members of their respective political parties through series of leadership workshops and also promised to encourage and assist individuals from their parties to appear before the TRC when they are summoned.
The registered political parties also committed themselves to making recommendations from the amendment of any clause in the act creating the TRC that possesses any real and present threats and or objectives to the accomplishment of the work of the commission.
“Protection for all perpetrators against prosecution based on their testimonies whether made voluntarily or induced, providing opportunities for victims and perpetrators of human rights violation to share their experiences are of cancers to the TRC,” it is stated in the draft document.
The RPP agreed that the draft document on the TRC would be circulated to their various parties to make and recommend possible changes that would lead to a final TRC document from political parties as they are major stakeholders to the CPA.
Speaking at the close of the consultative meeting, the new Country Director of IRI, Pete Meachum said it was important for political parties to take the lead in the mandate of the TRC, saying that their role is key and decisive to the success of the TRC in Liberia.
The new IRI Country Director also used the occasion to reaffirm his organization’s commitment to enhancing and building the capacities of RPP for the building of “a real and true democracy in Liberia.”
Parties represented at the meeting include the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), All Liberians Coalition Party (ALCOP), the New DEAL Movement, the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) and the ruling Unity Party (UP).
Healing Liberia's pain
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=274104&area=/insight/insight__africa/
09 June 2006 07:57
Percy Zvomuya
Citizens of the first republic to be established on the continent, in 1847, this week visited the most recently established democratic African republic to seek inspiration, guidance and insight for their fledgling Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Members of Liberia’s TRC were on a week-long study tour of the country to learn how South Africa’s transition and healing process was managed. The nine-member commission was hosted by the South African Foundation for Human Rights and met human rights activists, members of the South African TRC and representatives of government to exchange notes on the most practical way to manage the healing process.
Commission chairperson Jerome Verdier said it wants to follow a victim-centred process instead of focusing on perpetrators.
He said the Liberian TRC’s aim is to ensure that the process is also responsive to the needs of women and children, who bore the brunt of Charles Taylor’s murderous reign of terror.
“Ours should be a Liberian-driven process where Liberian interests are more important than inter-national interests,” said Verdier, a human rights and environmental lawyer.
Liberia, he explained, does not want to pursue an “overly legalistic process”, which heaps more attention on the perpetrators than on the victims, many of them children and women. Its process will be guided by the “collective wisdom and experiences” of the Liberians.
While Verdier noted that reparations may not be the best route to follow, he said that “some form of reparation will be necessary” to ensure a healing process that does not rupture later on.
There is a sense of urgency to get the process under way “now, when we have not settled, rather than wait for four or five years”, said Verdier.
He feels the presence of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Liberia will give the TRC added security and allay fears of an uprising engineered by perpetrators and their supporters.
He thought the South African process offered “differences and similarities which provide opportunities for learning”.
09 June 2006 07:57
Percy Zvomuya
Citizens of the first republic to be established on the continent, in 1847, this week visited the most recently established democratic African republic to seek inspiration, guidance and insight for their fledgling Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Members of Liberia’s TRC were on a week-long study tour of the country to learn how South Africa’s transition and healing process was managed. The nine-member commission was hosted by the South African Foundation for Human Rights and met human rights activists, members of the South African TRC and representatives of government to exchange notes on the most practical way to manage the healing process.
Commission chairperson Jerome Verdier said it wants to follow a victim-centred process instead of focusing on perpetrators.
He said the Liberian TRC’s aim is to ensure that the process is also responsive to the needs of women and children, who bore the brunt of Charles Taylor’s murderous reign of terror.
“Ours should be a Liberian-driven process where Liberian interests are more important than inter-national interests,” said Verdier, a human rights and environmental lawyer.
Liberia, he explained, does not want to pursue an “overly legalistic process”, which heaps more attention on the perpetrators than on the victims, many of them children and women. Its process will be guided by the “collective wisdom and experiences” of the Liberians.
While Verdier noted that reparations may not be the best route to follow, he said that “some form of reparation will be necessary” to ensure a healing process that does not rupture later on.
There is a sense of urgency to get the process under way “now, when we have not settled, rather than wait for four or five years”, said Verdier.
He feels the presence of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Liberia will give the TRC added security and allay fears of an uprising engineered by perpetrators and their supporters.
He thought the South African process offered “differences and similarities which provide opportunities for learning”.
Liberia: TRC and War Crimes Court?
Posted At : 1:36 AM | Posted By : Lana Obradovic
http://www.salzburgseminar.org/ihjr/blog/index.cfm/2006/5/30/Lana%20Obradovic
Related Categories: Africa
A nine-man delegation, headed by the Chairman of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome Verdier, arrived yesterday in South Africa. Their goal is to learn from the South African experience, broaden their knowledge of issues relating to transitional justice, as well as observe the impact of the reconciliation process in that country.
Last week, Cllr. Verdier visited the United States, where he met with officials of the Department of State and Justice Department, the World Bank, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the US Institute for Peace and National Security. He made a trip to Pennsylvania, where he met with officials and members of the Liberian Community as a part of the Commission's continuing outreach initiative aimed at engaging every Liberian, including those living in the Diaspora. According to some reports, Liberians who attended the meeting expressed delight in the TRC and underscored the need for all Liberians, including those living in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, to support and fully participate in the TRC process. They also submitted a proposal to the government of Liberia, asking for the creation of reconciliation sites in different parts of the United States. During the same week, six of nine Commissioners of the TRC were touring the 15 political sub-divisions of the country to acquaint themselves with stakeholders of the TRC process in the leeward counties.
It seems that the TRC team has been working hard on gathering support not only from foreign governments and international governmental and non-governmental agencies, but also from Liberians at home and abroad, before the hearings start in June.
One of the reasons appears to be the increased effort of the group Forum for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia. On May 12th, 10,000 Liberians marched in support of the Forum’s initiative. They presented their petition to the National Legislature, the United States Embassy, African Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations representatives in Liberia.
The group complains that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission lacks the power to effectively punish war crimes because of their limited mandate. The Commission, established by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June of 2005 in accordance with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2003, does not have the authority to try any suspects. Its primary responsibility is to document abuses that have taken place during the governments of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, and make recommendations for restitution.
TRC’s mandate is to “investigate gross human rights violations and war crimes, including massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes (such as the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate the armed conflict).” The Commission is also to provide an opportunity for victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to discuss their experiences, “in order to create a record of the past and facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.”
Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has expressed her disapproval about the formation of a War Crimes Court in Liberia, because she believes that all Liberia needs is a truth and reconciliation process. The Chairman of the erstwhile Sierra Leonean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Joseph C. Humper, agreed with Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf, saying that having the Special Court in Sierra Leone to operate at the same time as the Sierra Leonean TRC greatly undermined the effectiveness of that country's reconciliation process.
The discussion has begun and will continue. Whether Liberia decides on the creation of a War Crimes Court in addition to a TRC is an issue of careful consideration and reflections.
http://www.salzburgseminar.org/ihjr/blog/index.cfm/2006/5/30/Lana%20Obradovic
Related Categories: Africa
A nine-man delegation, headed by the Chairman of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Cllr. Jerome Verdier, arrived yesterday in South Africa. Their goal is to learn from the South African experience, broaden their knowledge of issues relating to transitional justice, as well as observe the impact of the reconciliation process in that country.
Last week, Cllr. Verdier visited the United States, where he met with officials of the Department of State and Justice Department, the World Bank, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the US Institute for Peace and National Security. He made a trip to Pennsylvania, where he met with officials and members of the Liberian Community as a part of the Commission's continuing outreach initiative aimed at engaging every Liberian, including those living in the Diaspora. According to some reports, Liberians who attended the meeting expressed delight in the TRC and underscored the need for all Liberians, including those living in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, to support and fully participate in the TRC process. They also submitted a proposal to the government of Liberia, asking for the creation of reconciliation sites in different parts of the United States. During the same week, six of nine Commissioners of the TRC were touring the 15 political sub-divisions of the country to acquaint themselves with stakeholders of the TRC process in the leeward counties.
It seems that the TRC team has been working hard on gathering support not only from foreign governments and international governmental and non-governmental agencies, but also from Liberians at home and abroad, before the hearings start in June.
One of the reasons appears to be the increased effort of the group Forum for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia. On May 12th, 10,000 Liberians marched in support of the Forum’s initiative. They presented their petition to the National Legislature, the United States Embassy, African Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations representatives in Liberia.
The group complains that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission lacks the power to effectively punish war crimes because of their limited mandate. The Commission, established by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly in June of 2005 in accordance with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2003, does not have the authority to try any suspects. Its primary responsibility is to document abuses that have taken place during the governments of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, and make recommendations for restitution.
TRC’s mandate is to “investigate gross human rights violations and war crimes, including massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes (such as the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate the armed conflict).” The Commission is also to provide an opportunity for victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to discuss their experiences, “in order to create a record of the past and facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.”
Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has expressed her disapproval about the formation of a War Crimes Court in Liberia, because she believes that all Liberia needs is a truth and reconciliation process. The Chairman of the erstwhile Sierra Leonean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Joseph C. Humper, agreed with Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf, saying that having the Special Court in Sierra Leone to operate at the same time as the Sierra Leonean TRC greatly undermined the effectiveness of that country's reconciliation process.
The discussion has begun and will continue. Whether Liberia decides on the creation of a War Crimes Court in addition to a TRC is an issue of careful consideration and reflections.
Can The TRC Bring True Reconciliation?
By Abdoulaye W. Dukulé
Adukule@theperspective.org
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
June 30, 2006
The induction of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was hailed as a milestone in Liberia’s road to peace and stability. It was the last tenet of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in Accra in 2003 and that brought an end to the cycle of violence. The Sirleaf government deserves commendations for bringing the TRC on the front burner and finding the initial funding along with the UNDP and other donor agencies to kick-off the process.
In a perfect world, perpetrators of hideous crimes and their victims would all stand in line and open their hearts to speak the truth. The perpetrators would confess their crimes and the victims would talk about their suffering and would then forgive their perpetrators. They would embrace, cry some and return home to their daily activities and Liberia will be a land of peaceful people.
However attractive its name and mission may sound, the TRC will be confronted to structural hurdles on its way to success, with some of those challenges predating its establishment.
Between a war crimes tribunal and a copycat of the South African “tell all and move on” forum, Liberia decided to adopt the latter. The decision was reached in Accra in June 2003, in the heat of the war during the negotiations that lead to the CPA. The two groups who negotiated to insert the institution of a TRC in the peace agreement should have never been allowed to discuss the issue. Some of the participants sought to continue the status quo and argued for a blanket amnesty for the wars. To defeat candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Accra, the argument used by the opposition was that she planned to bring a war crimes tribunal to put all warlords on trial. The same was again used against her in the 2005 campaign and she had to publicly announce that she would follow the terms of the CPA that called for a TRC.
The warring factions bargained hard to kill any agreement that would have made them to face a war crimes tribunal, while the politicians were courting the leaders of the warring factions to head the next government. The real victims of the war had never had any saying in that decision.
The choice between a war crimes tribunal and a TRC should have been postponed until after elections. Ideally, under the present conditions and by 2007, Liberians could have decided, through a referendum, how to look back on the war and made a rational decision.
Beyond the fact that it was conceived by political leaders and warring factions engaged in political bargain – most of the politicians had no experience of the war and the leaders of the warring factions were mostly cell phone generals who masterminded the war from abroad - the commission faces other great challenges that could impede its success, if not simply render it totally useless.
Financial Challenges
The first critical challenge facing the TRC will be that of financing. Unlike the Elections Commission where hundreds of NGOs and the UN as well as the European Union had vested interest, the TRC is not an “exciting” issue with palpable results that would produce a winner. After all, the biggest culprit of the war Charles Taylor is in the hands of the UN. There are neither clear villains nor victims in a country where people have a natural tendency to want to forget as quickly as possible. Falling somewhere between national psychotherapy and political carnival, the TRC will find it difficult to raise the $10 million it needs to carry out its task. It could be wiser to spend that amount to strengthen the judiciary and security forces and invest in farms and schools.
Timeline
The period to be covered by the TRC is a structural problem that could make its work irrelevant. The fact that the TRC would only address itself to events that occurred between 1979 and 2003 is tantamount to attacking the symptoms rather than looking at the core of the problems. The massive killings, looting and destruction that occurred during those years of national madness were simply the effects of what occurred between 1824 and 1979. The Rice Riots of 1979, the 1980 Military Coup and the 1989 NPFL Invasion are all parts a normal reaction to social conditions that had reached their points of saturation. If the TRC cannot go to the sources of these outbursts, it will simply be reduced to fighting the smoke while ignoring the fire still burning.
The period 1979 – 2003 marked the point of saturation of social tensions that exploded. The explosion- like a balloon blowing up under pressure – occurred because the governing body used coercion and violence rather than allowing outlets for relief and adjustment as was suggested by those who sought change through “democratic means,” such as D. Tweh, Morias, Porte, Sawyer, Tipoteh and others. The violence of 1979 – 2003 was a by-product of structural contradictions still intact. The old social inequities that led to the rice riots, the military coup and the multiple invasions have to be revisited for Liberia to move on.
Going Beyond The Symbols
As a social scientist, the keynote speaker at the launching of the TRC, Dr. Amos Sawyer, alluded to the need to go into the past beyond the 1979 line drawn in the sand. He said: “Some of these challenges are directly associated with the intermittent conflicts and brutal civil war of the last quarter century; many run deeper into our history—as far back as to our founding…” Dr. Sawyer says that “some” of the challenges are associated with the conflicts of 1979 – 2003 but he adds that “many” of the challenges are things unresolved from as far back as the founding of Liberia. The comparison must be here between “some” and “many” and the latter carries more weight. It means simply that many of the problems that brought Liberia to its knees have to do with the foundation of the nation.
Dr. Sawyer, who pointed out in his speech that Liberians like to gloss over serious problems to find quick fix solutions cited as an example of things to revisit the motto of the republic: “The Love Of Liberty Brought US Here.” This sentence, written on every official document and landmark in the nation, precludes any ownership of the state by 95 percent of Liberians.
The destruction of state properties during the war and the massive killing of people who worked for government were indicative of the alienation of the great majority of Liberians towards government. Dr. Sawyer asked this question when he wondered why people fighting for “liberation” were destroying everything on their way, including their own villages. It is because most Liberians viewed the government as belonging to a small clique in Monrovia that collects taxes, rides big cars and sends their children to school in Geneva, London or the US while there is no chalk or textbook in the classrooms in Monrovia, Fishtown or Robertsport.
It is Also About Economics, Religion and the Laws
The sources of the conflict are also embedded in issues that have to do with land tenure. Over the years, tribal lands were confiscated and appropriated by individuals when not simply sold to concessions. The biggest landowners in Liberia today are former “settlers” or descendants of a few natives who collaborated with the past exploitative regimes. The original owners of these lands are still alive, although most may have been displaced. Someday, their descendants will seek to take control of the government in order to regain their ancestral lands. Therefore, until the land issue is resolved, Liberia may still have another war coming. Unless, of course, if the TRC were to go beyond its boundaries.
Symbols of power in Liberia are still embedded in cultural borrowings from the US, such as the Christian religion and the English language. The religion of the minority group has become a de-facto state religion in a country where the majority of people goes to neither church nor to a mosque. This negation of the system of belief is source of a latent conflict and could lead to violent reaction. Government functions are still opened and closed with prayers in languages – English or Arabic – that the most Liberians don’t understand.
The laws in Liberia are archaic. The existence of the customary and the statutory law institutes two nations. It creates sets of judiciaries only applicable to a certain group of people, with the Chief Executive of the Republic as the sole link between the two groups, standing separate and unequal.
By evoking the issue of symbols, Dr. Sawyer was - subtly - inviting Liberians to go beyond the isolated actions – no matter how horrific – that took place in a determined period and look at the root causes of the conflict. Short of this, the TRC would only be a smoke screen that would try to cure cancer with a band-aid.
Liberians have rarely taken time to reflect deeply on their state of being and find solution. The country has been in survival mode for a very long time. Liberians seem to always want to forget the past and move on. The oldest African republic has never had a single public library or a real bookstore in her entire history. It seems that the country wants to always forget what happened yesterday. The fact that the National Archives built by Samuel Doe was destroyed and looted after the war and then taken over by the National Investment Commission is indicative of how much Liberians wants the past.
As conceived, and as set to function, the TRC could just turn out to be just a national neurotic carnival notwithstanding the great men and women that make up its membership and the goodwill of the support of a government that campaigned on a reform agenda. As Tiawan Gongloe once said, when the foundation is faulty, everything goes wrong. There could be no better closure that these words from Dr. Sawyer’s keynote speech at the launching of the TRC:
“Some of the challenges that confront us have their roots in the process of state building that was experienced in Liberia, the historical narratives we adopt about it and symbols we project about our country and ourselves. As many of these are rooted in nineteenth century realities—and may have had their positive uses in earlier times, they tend, today, to promote exclusion and exacerbate division and, therefore, need to be reviewed. The story of Liberia is presented in our history books solely as an endless struggle between two homogenous and antagonistic political communities. History written this way cannot serve the purposes of reconciliation and healing.”
The TRC may be the greatest challenge for Liberians to move forward. Will they take advantage of it or will it be “business as usual,” to paraphrase Gyude Bryant.
Adukule@theperspective.org
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
June 30, 2006
The induction of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was hailed as a milestone in Liberia’s road to peace and stability. It was the last tenet of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in Accra in 2003 and that brought an end to the cycle of violence. The Sirleaf government deserves commendations for bringing the TRC on the front burner and finding the initial funding along with the UNDP and other donor agencies to kick-off the process.
In a perfect world, perpetrators of hideous crimes and their victims would all stand in line and open their hearts to speak the truth. The perpetrators would confess their crimes and the victims would talk about their suffering and would then forgive their perpetrators. They would embrace, cry some and return home to their daily activities and Liberia will be a land of peaceful people.
However attractive its name and mission may sound, the TRC will be confronted to structural hurdles on its way to success, with some of those challenges predating its establishment.
Between a war crimes tribunal and a copycat of the South African “tell all and move on” forum, Liberia decided to adopt the latter. The decision was reached in Accra in June 2003, in the heat of the war during the negotiations that lead to the CPA. The two groups who negotiated to insert the institution of a TRC in the peace agreement should have never been allowed to discuss the issue. Some of the participants sought to continue the status quo and argued for a blanket amnesty for the wars. To defeat candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Accra, the argument used by the opposition was that she planned to bring a war crimes tribunal to put all warlords on trial. The same was again used against her in the 2005 campaign and she had to publicly announce that she would follow the terms of the CPA that called for a TRC.
The warring factions bargained hard to kill any agreement that would have made them to face a war crimes tribunal, while the politicians were courting the leaders of the warring factions to head the next government. The real victims of the war had never had any saying in that decision.
The choice between a war crimes tribunal and a TRC should have been postponed until after elections. Ideally, under the present conditions and by 2007, Liberians could have decided, through a referendum, how to look back on the war and made a rational decision.
Beyond the fact that it was conceived by political leaders and warring factions engaged in political bargain – most of the politicians had no experience of the war and the leaders of the warring factions were mostly cell phone generals who masterminded the war from abroad - the commission faces other great challenges that could impede its success, if not simply render it totally useless.
Financial Challenges
The first critical challenge facing the TRC will be that of financing. Unlike the Elections Commission where hundreds of NGOs and the UN as well as the European Union had vested interest, the TRC is not an “exciting” issue with palpable results that would produce a winner. After all, the biggest culprit of the war Charles Taylor is in the hands of the UN. There are neither clear villains nor victims in a country where people have a natural tendency to want to forget as quickly as possible. Falling somewhere between national psychotherapy and political carnival, the TRC will find it difficult to raise the $10 million it needs to carry out its task. It could be wiser to spend that amount to strengthen the judiciary and security forces and invest in farms and schools.
Timeline
The period to be covered by the TRC is a structural problem that could make its work irrelevant. The fact that the TRC would only address itself to events that occurred between 1979 and 2003 is tantamount to attacking the symptoms rather than looking at the core of the problems. The massive killings, looting and destruction that occurred during those years of national madness were simply the effects of what occurred between 1824 and 1979. The Rice Riots of 1979, the 1980 Military Coup and the 1989 NPFL Invasion are all parts a normal reaction to social conditions that had reached their points of saturation. If the TRC cannot go to the sources of these outbursts, it will simply be reduced to fighting the smoke while ignoring the fire still burning.
The period 1979 – 2003 marked the point of saturation of social tensions that exploded. The explosion- like a balloon blowing up under pressure – occurred because the governing body used coercion and violence rather than allowing outlets for relief and adjustment as was suggested by those who sought change through “democratic means,” such as D. Tweh, Morias, Porte, Sawyer, Tipoteh and others. The violence of 1979 – 2003 was a by-product of structural contradictions still intact. The old social inequities that led to the rice riots, the military coup and the multiple invasions have to be revisited for Liberia to move on.
Going Beyond The Symbols
As a social scientist, the keynote speaker at the launching of the TRC, Dr. Amos Sawyer, alluded to the need to go into the past beyond the 1979 line drawn in the sand. He said: “Some of these challenges are directly associated with the intermittent conflicts and brutal civil war of the last quarter century; many run deeper into our history—as far back as to our founding…” Dr. Sawyer says that “some” of the challenges are associated with the conflicts of 1979 – 2003 but he adds that “many” of the challenges are things unresolved from as far back as the founding of Liberia. The comparison must be here between “some” and “many” and the latter carries more weight. It means simply that many of the problems that brought Liberia to its knees have to do with the foundation of the nation.
Dr. Sawyer, who pointed out in his speech that Liberians like to gloss over serious problems to find quick fix solutions cited as an example of things to revisit the motto of the republic: “The Love Of Liberty Brought US Here.” This sentence, written on every official document and landmark in the nation, precludes any ownership of the state by 95 percent of Liberians.
The destruction of state properties during the war and the massive killing of people who worked for government were indicative of the alienation of the great majority of Liberians towards government. Dr. Sawyer asked this question when he wondered why people fighting for “liberation” were destroying everything on their way, including their own villages. It is because most Liberians viewed the government as belonging to a small clique in Monrovia that collects taxes, rides big cars and sends their children to school in Geneva, London or the US while there is no chalk or textbook in the classrooms in Monrovia, Fishtown or Robertsport.
It is Also About Economics, Religion and the Laws
The sources of the conflict are also embedded in issues that have to do with land tenure. Over the years, tribal lands were confiscated and appropriated by individuals when not simply sold to concessions. The biggest landowners in Liberia today are former “settlers” or descendants of a few natives who collaborated with the past exploitative regimes. The original owners of these lands are still alive, although most may have been displaced. Someday, their descendants will seek to take control of the government in order to regain their ancestral lands. Therefore, until the land issue is resolved, Liberia may still have another war coming. Unless, of course, if the TRC were to go beyond its boundaries.
Symbols of power in Liberia are still embedded in cultural borrowings from the US, such as the Christian religion and the English language. The religion of the minority group has become a de-facto state religion in a country where the majority of people goes to neither church nor to a mosque. This negation of the system of belief is source of a latent conflict and could lead to violent reaction. Government functions are still opened and closed with prayers in languages – English or Arabic – that the most Liberians don’t understand.
The laws in Liberia are archaic. The existence of the customary and the statutory law institutes two nations. It creates sets of judiciaries only applicable to a certain group of people, with the Chief Executive of the Republic as the sole link between the two groups, standing separate and unequal.
By evoking the issue of symbols, Dr. Sawyer was - subtly - inviting Liberians to go beyond the isolated actions – no matter how horrific – that took place in a determined period and look at the root causes of the conflict. Short of this, the TRC would only be a smoke screen that would try to cure cancer with a band-aid.
Liberians have rarely taken time to reflect deeply on their state of being and find solution. The country has been in survival mode for a very long time. Liberians seem to always want to forget the past and move on. The oldest African republic has never had a single public library or a real bookstore in her entire history. It seems that the country wants to always forget what happened yesterday. The fact that the National Archives built by Samuel Doe was destroyed and looted after the war and then taken over by the National Investment Commission is indicative of how much Liberians wants the past.
As conceived, and as set to function, the TRC could just turn out to be just a national neurotic carnival notwithstanding the great men and women that make up its membership and the goodwill of the support of a government that campaigned on a reform agenda. As Tiawan Gongloe once said, when the foundation is faulty, everything goes wrong. There could be no better closure that these words from Dr. Sawyer’s keynote speech at the launching of the TRC:
“Some of the challenges that confront us have their roots in the process of state building that was experienced in Liberia, the historical narratives we adopt about it and symbols we project about our country and ourselves. As many of these are rooted in nineteenth century realities—and may have had their positive uses in earlier times, they tend, today, to promote exclusion and exacerbate division and, therefore, need to be reviewed. The story of Liberia is presented in our history books solely as an endless struggle between two homogenous and antagonistic political communities. History written this way cannot serve the purposes of reconciliation and healing.”
The TRC may be the greatest challenge for Liberians to move forward. Will they take advantage of it or will it be “business as usual,” to paraphrase Gyude Bryant.
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