-Campaigners Want US Gov’t Push Pres. Weah
IPNEWS: On Monday, December 13, 2022, United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ), Dr. Beth Van Schaack wrote an open letter to Liberians recounting the findings of her October 2022 visit on a fact-finding visit to Liberia. In her letter to Liberians, Ambassador-at-Large Beth Van Schaack re-echoed the voices of Liberians who have called on George Weah’s government to implement the recommendations of the TRC.
“I am writing to extend my thanks to the people of Liberia for a very meaningful visit in October of this year. On my first trip to Liberia, I very much appreciated the opportunity to meet with, and hear from, a wide range of policymakers, lawmakers, members of the media, and Liberians who shared with our delegation their perspectives on the prospects for justice in Liberia. I owe special thanks to Pastor Janice Gonoe, who gave mIPNEWS: e a very moving tour of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, where 600 Liberians lost their lives after they sought sanctuary in this place of worship, the UN Envoy began her letter.
Continuing Amb. Schaack notes: “Liberia faces many challenges when it comes to justice and accountability, not only for the terrible war crimes committed during two consecutive civil wars, but also for subsequent crimes and corruption. Impunity is corrosive; when it is allowed to flourish in one sector, it will undermine the foundations of peace and the rule of law across an entire society.”
Key in her letter to Liberians was when she reechoed the many voices who have called on the George Weah government to push for the establishment of the War Crimes Court for Liberia. “The overwhelming message we heard on our visit was a call for those with the power to do so to implement the important recommendations of the 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC). These recommendations reflect the wisdom of Liberian leaders and experts in law, human rights, theology, and journalism. The TRC commissioners were tasked with the awesome responsibility for generating a framework to prevent a return to mass violence in Liberia, answer the call of victims and survivors for justice, and hold accountable those most responsible for war crimes and other atrocities.”
But according to the United States Ambassador-at-Large, Beth Van Schaack, “Notwithstanding the recommendation of the TRC to establish an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia, with a mandate to investigate war crimes and economic crimes, the only justice Liberians have enjoyed to date has occurred in foreign courts.”
In Amb. Shaack’s letter she cites “the recent verdict in France against Kunti Kamara, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in crimes against humanity, torture, and acts of barbarism. Currently, two cases are proceeding in U.S. courts against former rebel general Laye Sekou Camara and former Armed Forces of Liberia commander Moses Wright for charges related to misrepresenting their wartime conduct on immigration forms in attempts to evade accountability. My visit followed on the heels of a civil judgment in Pennsylvania against Moses Thomas, establishing his liability for the Lutheran Church massacre and resulting in an $84 million damages award to victims. Because he absconded from the United States, this judgment has never been paid. And just before my delegation and I arrived in Liberia, a suit was filed in the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice on behalf of the survivors of the massacre at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. The basic claim: that Liberia has failed to provide victims justice.”
Concluding her letter to Liberians, the United States Ambassador-At-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ), Dr. Beth Van Schaack noted: “It was inspiring to hear such a sustained desire for justice from Liberians, and I thank those who shared their thoughts and hopes with me. It is my hope that these aspirations, and expectations, will be met by those entrusted with the power to fulfil them, in service of the lasting and just peace the people of Liberia deserve.”
Top Rights Activist Tells US Gov’t War Crimes Court “Key to Breaking the Accountability Paralysis”
Few following Amb. Schaack’s open letter to Liberians that reechoed their voices for the establishment of a War Crimes Court for Liberia, Human Rights activists at side events of the ongoing US-Africa Democracy Summit in Washington, including the Secretary General of the National Human Rights Platform of Liberia, Adama Dempster are stepping up their campaign for the establishment of a War Crimes Court for Liberia.
In an address to the Africa Human Rights Leaders Summit – Side Event, Mr. Dempster told the US government that the setting up of a War Crimes Court is long overdue, adding, “Liberia has been unique when it comes to impunity, given the fact that Liberia’s brutal civil war ended 19 years ago, after about 250,000 people were killed.”
“Unlike in other cases or countries scenario, the US has been largely silent on the need for criminal accountability on crimes committed in Liberia,” the prominent Liberian Human Rights campaigner pointed out.
Since he came to power in January 2018, President George Weah and his CDC government have been reluctant to endorse mounting local and international calls for the establishment of a War and Economic Crimes Court.
Prior to his election in 2017, Weah’s CDC party championed the cause of a War Crimes Court which they publically said was an imperative. But Weah and the CDC held back their support for the establishment of such Court after forming political alliance with ‘notorious’ rebel general warlord-turned Senator, Prince Y. Johnson who is one of those recommended for prosecution in the 2010 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
But in his address this week in Washington, Rights activist Dempster urged the Americans to do more by directly engaging President Weah to make establishing War Crimes Court a reality.
“Given the US and Liberia long standing relations, we recommend that the US government directly engage President Weah and the Government of Liberia to back a war crimes court. Liberia will need international expertise and assistance to organize a Court that can handle these cases and President George Weah needs to request immediate assistance to organize the establishment of the Court, and further demand implementation of the TRC recommendations.”
Mr. Dempster continued: “We have seen in countries like Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic, the US has taken a clear position in support of justice for atrocities and urged for trials of the crimes committed in these countries. The US also has provided financial assistance to support accountability efforts, whether domestic or hybrid courts, to try the crimes.”
The executive of the National Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia stressed the need for President Weah “to commit to establish accountability framework to bring war crimes perpetrators to justice or in other words establish the War Crimes Court to address civil wars era crimes in Liberia.”
Mr. Dempster also told the US government that prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia is “key to breaking the accountability paralysis in the country and finally seeing victims have access to justice”.
Liberia Shouldn’t Worry to Fund War Crimes Court – As US Gov’t Vows Financial Backing
One of the reasons given by the CDC government and those who support it and against the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia is its funding. Some argue that monies that the Government of Liberia will use to fund such a court must be used for either health, education, among others.
But the very CDC government, when in opposition prior to taking state power, championed the establishment of the War Crimes Court during former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s regime. By then the issue of funding court was of no concerns to them, a situation that has now made their current argument that the government lacks fund for such venture hypocritical.
On October 6, 2022 while addressing Liberian and international media correspondents in Monrovia the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (GCJ), Dr. Beth Van Schaack stated that “It is never late to dispense justice,” when she disclosed that the United States government has promised to fund the formation of a War Crimes Tribunal in Liberia, citing the need for justice for victims of the country’s bloody 14-year civil crisis.
The commitment, announced by Amb. Beth Van Schaack was at a time when Liberia is yet to establish a War Crimes Court which has become the most argumentative part of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations.
The court would hear the prosecution of any of the 98 perpetrators that the TRC finds responsible for various kinds of gross human rights violations and war crimes.
Schaack, who advises the US Secretary of State and other senior officials on issues relating to War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Genocide, said in October 2022 it was time for the Government of Liberia “to be accountable to its people”.
“The Liberian government has to be accountable to its people. The US government is willing to support through technical and financial means to establish a tribunal,” Schaack said in October, while on a visit to Liberia to understand why the Court has not been established as recommended by the TRC report.
“The TRC report has some useful recommendations to address war crimes and atrocities. We encourage those in positions of power to look very carefully at those recommendations. It is never late to dispense justice. The individuals who suffered the crimes are still calling for justice and those who represent them should look into those calls.”
The declaration by Schaack, a former practicing lawyer in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, is a bold promise by the administration of US President Joe Biden to stand with victims of civil war-era crimes in Liberia.
In the past, the US has been hesitant to reveal the level of support it is willing to provide for the prosecution of warlords in Liberia, considering the fact that Firestone Liberia, an indirect subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas – part of the Bridgestone Group – was one of 19 corporations that the TRC asked to be investigated and prosecuted for economic crimes.
But Schaack’s remarks in October 2022 indicate some shift in US policy towards the establishment of a War Crime Tribunal in Liberia, knowing that the issue of criminal accountability for civil war-era atrocities has widespread support in Liberia.
The US government has played a pivotal role in fostering accountability in West Africa, including in the landmark trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor by the Sierra Leone Special Court.
“The Lutheran massacre was not done by rebel forces but government forces,” Schaack noted. “This is why it does not matter who is in charge as leaders… It is a government case. “I don’t think it is about creating a big court. It won’t be like the tribunal in The Hague.”
“Creating hybrid courts to address cases close to the people is now the model. No one is taken from the country to another country for trial or sentence.”
Schaack’s remarks about the Lutheran massacre were made in October nearly three months after a federal court in the US State of Pennsylvania issued a historic damages award totaling US$84 million to four victims of the Lutheran Church Massacre, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the Liberian Civil Wars.
The court’s ruling on damages follows a September 2021 decision holding Col. Moses Thomas, formerly of the Armed Force of Liberia, responsible for the war crimes, crimes against humanity, extrajudicial killing, attempted extrajudicial killing, and torture that took place during the Massacre. Thomas, formerly a resident of Pennsylvania, has now returned to Liberia.
The TRC, which operated between 2006 and 2009, in its report, details evidence of various kinds of gross human rights violations, war and economic crimes.
It then called for the establishment of a War Crimes Court – as the 14 years of civil war led to widespread human rights violations such as mass killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, summary executions, mutilation, torture and use of child combatants.
Eight heads of different warring factions including Senator Prince Y. Johnson of Nimba County and Representative George Boley of Grand Gedeh County, along with 21 others, were recommended for prosecution for War and Economic Crimes as well as 19 corporations, institutions, and state actors.
The TRC report also called for 52 people to be sanctioned and barred from holding public office again. However, since the TRC report was submitted in 2009, both the administrations of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and current President George Weah have shown no willingness to establish a War Crimes Court to confront the legacy of the country’s 14-year civil war, which killed an estimated 250,000 people.
Judicial authorities in the United States, Belgium, France, Finland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have been pursuing criminal cases related to Liberia’s civil wars in recent years, often spurred by civil society efforts.
Critics of the Court have argued that its absence is a measure aimed at safeguarding the country’s Constitution and peace. They have also cited challenges that would often arise, should such a court be established.
Such challenges include protection and support for witnesses and victims, security for judges and staff, assuring fair legal process, and educating the local population about the court.
This criticism then fueled the Liberian Senate’s decision, a year ago, to call on President George Weah to set up a Transitional Justice Commission to determine if the TRC commissioners complied with the mandate, such as the face-to-face meeting with perpetrators of crimes and other offenses and their respective victims in light of allegations from some former warlords that the TRC never contacted them.
The Senate had argued that the Commission, when established, will examine the effect of the August 2003 Act of the Legislature, which granted general amnesty to all participants in the civil crisis, a major obstacle to the prosecutions of warlords.
The Commission has however not yet been established.
But in October during her visit to Liberia Schaack disagreed with criticism against the TRC. According to her, the TRC report contains strong and important recommendations which are useful to address the country’s war crimes and atrocities legacy.
The US Envoy noted that while there has been no accountability in Liberia on the criminal side or the civil side, the TRC report needs to be implemented so as to hold those responsible for the abuses.
“You can think about justice in a broad way: it can be criminal justice for those who were directly involved and caused so much harm. Participating in a war is not necessarily a crime in itself, but it is the architect of the violence. They are the most culpable. You can also include restorative justice which can help rehabilitate the victims and perpetrators either from physical wounds or psychological conditions. Some could involve an apology,” she said in October 2022.
“You have come a long way as a country, but yet to implement anything. We’ll meet with the Legislature and the Executive to know why the delay in the establishment of a tribunal to try the cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Meanwhile, Schaack noted that when there is justice and it is applied appropriately, corruption is minimized and development is realized, “roads can be built and children can have access to good and quality education as well as a good health system can be realized.”
Weah, Biden Meet on Elections ‘2023, Consolation of Democracy in Liberia, Nothing Mentioned on War Crimes Court
Following the calls for the United States government to mount pressure on President George Weah for the establishment of a War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia, an opportunity presented itself where US president Joe Biden met with the Liberian leader at his Oval Office in the White House along other few African leaders.
It was highly anticipated by campaigners of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia that President Joe Biden would have used that occasion to mount more pressure on the Liberian to see reason to call for the establishment of the Court so that victims of the 14-year Liberian civil would be served justice.
By according to an Executive Mansion press statement posted on its official website, when President Biden met with President Weah, the Liberian leader used the time to urge President Biden and the United States government to give “maximum support to Liberia’s Elections in 2023 as a way of consolidating democracy, rule of law and enhance growth and development” in Liberia and Africa as a whole.
The Executive Mansion statement said President made the call when a select group of he and 5 other African leaders joined President Biden at the White House in Washington D.C. to discuss elections, democracy, rule of law and development on the margins of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit 2022.
President Weah reiterated his strong commitment to the tenets of democracy where the will of the people prevails. The President said “I have participated in a lot of elections and even when the results were not favorable, we respected the results. My administration will ensure a free, fair and transparent process in 2023 and Liberia will remain a bastion of peace, freedom, prosperity and development under our watch”.
On his part, President Biden urged the leaders in attendance to do ensure that the democratic process under their leaderships is carried out in a free, fair and transparent manner. He committed US support to the advancement of the ideals of democracy, rule of law, peace and security and development on the continent.
Meanwhile, it is unknown whether the US government through either the State Department or the Treasury Department or any relevant US agencies will initiate discussions with President Weah and his administration regarding the establishment of a War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia following pleads from one of Liberia’s top activists and campaigners for the establishment of the court of that justice can be served to victims of the 14-year Liberian civil war.
Political pundits and bookmakers are watching keenly whether the United States government will directly mount enormous pressure on the CDC-run government of Liberia, led by former international football icon, George Weah, who when he served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2004 during the disarmament process of ex-combatants had called for the prosecution of warlords who conscripted children and turned them into killing machines.
In another development, President Weah was expected on yesterday, Thursday December 15, 2022 to join other leaders and the US President at the Leaders’ Forum where he was slated to make a submission to the Plenary on peace and security, resource mobilization for development, youth capacity building and sustainable utilization of natural resources on the continent.
