Author: Anthony Stephens

PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado —A local adoption agency with partners in the United States has been shut down and an arrest warrant issued for its Liberian and American heads and four local staff, according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MAMBA POINT, Monrovia – People living with disabilities and women’s rights groups took center stage at a meeting of stakeholders in Liberia’s transitional justice process on Friday. While stressing the importance of the country’s nascent war and economics court, the groups said the process needed to go beyond criminal accountability and provide reparations in various forms, including medical. And, they said, it needed to happen fast. “People with disabilities are dying on a daily basis. Every week, we bury,” said Daintowon Domah Pay-Bayee, ex-executive director of the National Commission on Disabilities during the meeting…

Civil society organizations working on transitional justice in Liberia have urged President Joseph Boakai to extend his executive order establishing the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts which expires May 1. By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Key mandates of the Office, including a roadmap for Liberia’s transitional justice process and a bill for a war and economic crimes court, have yet to be finalized. Earlier this month Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office, said a bill for the court will be ready “very soon.” At an event organized by the Liberia Massacre Survivors Association and the…

The Liberian government said it would hold “tough conversations” with the country’s international partners in April to explore ways to deal with the “shock” of the US aid cuts announced by the new Trump administration this month.

A Finnish court has additional compensation to Gibril Massaquoi, an ex-commander of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF), acquitted in 2024 of charges that he committed egregious human rights violations in Liberia under the direction of then-president Charles Taylor.

CARTER CAMP, Liberia—Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts of Liberia, says a bill for the courts will be ready “very soon.”

In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. Liberia is not immune.

Leading human rights advocates have condemned President Joseph Boakai’s decision to commission Lewis Brown, a former national security adviser to Charles Taylor, as Liberia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Brown was recommended for prosecution by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and could be one of those prosecuted by a future war and economic crimes court.

Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice in the Biden administration has left the post as the second Trump administration took power on Monday. In a farewell message Ambassador Van Schaack called her work in Liberia, The Gambia and other countries “impactful,” and applauded the human rights defenders who had worked with her during her three years in the role.