(Monrovia, November 6, 2018) – Liberian government officials, international representatives, and local and international activists will participate in a one-day conference in Monrovia shortly, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
“Opportunities and Challenges for Truth and Justice in Liberia for Past Crimes,” is the theme of the conference which takes place on November 9, 2018.
The conference is organized by Liberia’s Global Justice and Research Project(GJRP) and the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia, in collaboration with The Advocates for Human Rights, Center for Justice and Accountability, the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, Civitas Maxima, andHuman Rights Watch. Liberia Visual Arts Academy and FLOMO Theater group – in partnership with GJRP and Civitas Maxima – are also convening events throughout the week with youth and artists on justice issues.
Dr. Uchenna Emelonye, the representative in Liberia of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will give a keynote speech. The other speakers will include Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp, the US ambassador-at-large for war crimes from 2009 to 2015 and a former chief prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, according to a HRW press release.
The conference is taking place amid growing momentum for a war crimes court in Liberia. No one implicated in grave crimes – including murders, mutilation, torture, and rape – during the country’s back-to-back civil wars between 1989 through 2003 has been tried in Liberia. The UN Human Rights Committee in July said that the government should establish a process for justice, expressing concern that “none of the alleged perpetrators…. has been brought to justice.”
The conference will begin at 9 a.m. in the Corina Hotel in Monrovia. The opening sessions will be open to the media.
On February 12, 2018, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to President George Weah for his CDC government to support the setting up of a war crimes court to bring perpetrators of the Liberian civil war to justice.
In its letter, HRW urged President Weah “to put justice, accountability, and strengthening rule of law institutions at the very top of your agenda. Specifically, we encourage you to revisit the issue of justice for past crimes committed during Liberia’s civil wars, notably by invigorating plans for trials of civil wars-era crimes in order to bring justice to the victims, punish the perpetrators, and strengthen respect for the rule of law.”