Recently there had been calls from major Liberia human rights and civil society actors for the urgent approval by the President George M. Weah, for the establishment of a ‘war crimes court’ in Liberia to ensure there is no impunity for persons committing war crimes and crimes against humanity escape justice for their action.
The call which was reechoed by opposition leader of the All Liberian Party, ALP, a staunch loyalist and official of former Liberia’s jailed President Charles Taylor, Benoni Urey, for the establishment of a war crime court in the country now sets the stage for the attainment of such unique ideal.
Indeed ‘impunity’ seems to be an ever growing theme in our national discourse although many of our public service officials may not seem to share this view.
Yes, we certainly agreed with Mr. Urey, that if calls for the establishment of a war crimes court in Liberia is ignored by the current leadership of the country than the International Community should set the former Liberian President Charles Taylor free.
While some may differ with Mr. Urey on the release of the former Liberian President, given that , his incarceration for 50-years in a British prison for aiding and abetting crimes during the civil war in Sierra Leone cannot be a justification, yet still, we believed the path of global justice must be when all account for their misdeeds .
Additionally, Urey’s comments that “Let them free Taylor or carry everyone to jail; we had a war in Liberia and one person did not commit all atrocities. A lot of people did and if one person can face justice why not the rest?”, could also comes from the backdrop he also suffered UN sanctions and perhaps feel it’s unfair for him and others to continued being languishing on sanctions while others bloodletting persons parade in Monrovia.
We certainly sympathized with Urey that those who committed crimes must face justice by and through the establishment of a war crimes court, yet, we believed that the government under the leadership of President George M. Weah must carefully review all options before approving the establishment of a court.
We too are cognoscente that during Taylor’s reign, Urey headed Liberia’s maritime authority and later became one of the country’s most successful businessmen and faced international pressure and sanction after the collapse of Taylor’s administration.
It may be recalled the US Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list, prohibiting him from conducting business with US companies, citizens and residents, and blocking all US-based assets.
A 2005 report from the Coalition for International Justice reported that Urey helped Taylor “siphon off” funds from a shipping firm to pay for arms and was the primary contact between Taylor and Viktor Bout.
The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommended in its final report that Mr. Urey be prosecuted for the commission of economic crimes during the civil war and barred from holding public office for 30 years.
During the TRC hearings, Urey was identified by witness James Paul as operating the Liberian Rubber Company and exporting “hundreds of thousands of tons of rubber”, the proceeds of which were never accounted for.
But he denied any involvement in the violence of the Liberian and Sierra Leone civil conflicts, maintaining that as a civilian being appointed to head the Maritime Commission, he made no war-related decisions.
Additionally. an investigation by the United Nations Panel of Experts on Liberia’s political situation in 2013 concluded that it “did not have information suggesting that Urey was involved in activities that would destabilize Liberia and the sub-region”.
But his support for the establishment of war crimes court appears to be buttressing several calls requesting that perpetrators of crimes during the civil should face justice which must be critically studied.
It may be recalled, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (the Committee), a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by its State parties, issued strong concluding observations on Liberia’s continued impunity for past crimes and human rights violations and calls upon the Liberian government to establish, as a matter of priority, a process of accountability for war crimes.
On 26 July 2018, following the first ever review of the human rights situation by the Committee, which included a dialogue with the Liberian government, the Committee concluded that it “regrets the very few steps taken to implement the bulk of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations of 2009.”
It also expressed “concern that none of the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and war crimes mentioned in the TRC report, has been brought to justice, and that some of those individuals are or have been holding official executive positions, including in the government.”
“Failure of the Government of Liberia to undertake fair and credible prosecutions of international crimes committed in Liberia during armed conflicts between 1989 and 2003, and to end impunity for civil war-era crimes,” the UN Commission said.
It has become clear that administration of President George Weah truly needs immense international good will go tackle it diminishing economic situation but the government’s commitment to tacking issues of impunity in all aspects of its governance structure remains key to attracting this well anticipated economic recovery.
As impunity for persons bearing full responsibility for war crimes remains a focus of both Liberians at home and abroad, concerns continued to mount that President Weah cautiously review these appeals with careful thoughts to ensuring the country ravaged by years of armed conflict does not slip back into conflict. Indeed, War Crimes Court Calls, A Thought For Sober Reflection
