Liberia: Civil Society Groups Demand Full Implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Recommendation

Ganta, Nimba County – Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) across Liberia have made a repeated call on the George Weah-led Government to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations by prosecuting those who committed war crimes and other crimes against humanity during Liberia’s brutal civil wars.

According to the CSOs, transitional justice across Liberia will serve as a deterrence for would be perpetrators.

Transitional Justice is the way countries emerging from period of conflict and repression address large-scale or systematic human rights violations so numerous and so serious that the normal justice system will not be able to provide an adequate response.

The group made the call at a four-day public outreach and awareness on the TRC recommendations for rural community leaders to promote accountability.

The event, held in Ganta, Nimba County, was organized by the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) in collaboration with the National Civil Society Council of Liberia, with support from the Office of the High Commission on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Center for Democracy and Development.

The outreach brought together participants from Bong, Nimba and Lofa Counties as well as commissions who presided over the TRC report in the past.

The public outreach is also part of the roadmap of the national colloquium that was held in Gbarnga city, Bong County in May 2019 with the intent to discuss and advise the government and Liberians on a way forward for the implementation of the TRC report and recommendation of 2009.

The holding of the colloquium was also in line with the role of the INCHR assigned in the strategic roadmap for National Healing, Peace Building and Reconciliation of December 2012 on ‘Accounting for the Past’ to hold consultations with a wide range of stakeholders on the national palava hut talk, ‘memorialization’, and reparations.

It is also aimed at forging the relationship between Liberians at home and aboard aimed at promoting peace and reconciliation in line with the Kyiv Declaration of October 2015 on the role of the National Human Rights Institute in post conflict situation, peace and reconciliation.

While Calling for accountability for past crimes committed collectively as CSOs, key CSOs’ actors vowed to take the campaign to their respective communities to sensitize the local people.

“I will create awareness across Nimba County to have citizens understand the importance of transitional justice so that they can pressure their lawmakers for the establishment of War and Economic crimes Court and the full implementation of the TRC Report,” said Janet G. Flomo, head of the Special Emergency to Restore Children’s Hope (SERCH).

According to her, those who committed heinous crimes during the war, like her kinsman, Senator Prince Y. Johnson, who the TRC documented of committing the most individual crimes during the war should face justice.

“We will now demand the implementation of the TRC report because we want fair justice for those that received pain during the war to be able to express themselves in the court. We want those women that were victimized during the war to get the needed justice because they were targets.  I want to see those that did things wrongly during the war be judge and be punished by the law.”

The war crimes court, she added, was necessary because it would serve as deterrent for future occurrence.

Sharing her experience, Madam Flomo lamented that she was victimized during the war by soldiers who wounded her.

“I was born with open teeth. Today I am using false tooth in my mouth because of the action of some fighters. So it is necessary that everyone pays for the crimes they committed”.

Also speaking at the gathering, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in Liberia, known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Dr. Sonny Onyegbula said the process leading to the Ganta’s gathering is dated as far back as 2014 and it continued to 2020 with a massive sensitization in Tubmanburg, Bomi County before the COVID-19 outbreak which interrupted it.

The colloquium, he said was a unique event which brought together Liberians from all walks of life including advocates, government’s partners, CSOs and professional body like the National Bar Association to chat a pathway for the realization of transitional justice in Liberia.

He clarified that the process is not a UN led initiative but a National one that allows the people of Liberia to desire the kind of options they want their government to take to address past crimes.

“We, at OHCHR recognized that it is very important to address human rights violations because there are many gains when that happens,” he said.

The gains, said includes serving as a deterrent for future crimes, creating room for reconciliation, and building a strong and united country to move on with development.

He warned the gathering that if the process of transitional justice is not handled properly, it would continue to effect the peace because people would not be free to express themselves or present their cases before the justice system, adding, that is the reason OHCHR is only supporting the process that deals with the rule of law and enable people to express their grievance they have inside.

Speaking about the feedback from the citizens during the past outreach, the OHCHR boss said the responses have been over overwhelming and he was confident that transitional justice is gaining attractions.

The Government of Liberia has failed to implement the TRC recommendation which called for the establishment of a war crimes court to prosecute those that committed the worst atrocities during Liberia’s civil war.

In 2019, effort leading to the establishment of the court appeared to be gaining momentum following the Liberian National Bar Association’s adoption of a resolution calling for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court at its annual retreat. The resolution was presented to the House of Representatives in the form of a petition to craft a law establishing the court.

Following intensive lobbying by some members of the House including Representatives Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis (District #4, Montserrado County) and Larry P. Younquoi (District #8, Nimba County), a resolution obtaining a two-third majority signatures, was presented to House Speaker Bhofal Chambers to be forwarded to the House of Senate for concurrence. However, the Speaker has since ceased the resolution and has refused to place it on the plenary’s agenda.

The UN Human Rights Office’s boss said inasmuch as the UN and other international body stand by Liberia in ensuring it provides accountability for past crimes, it is up to Liberians to decide.