Liberia: Despite Elections, Collapse of Justice Poses Risks

Human Rights Watch Press Release

Liberia: Despite Elections, Collapse of Justice Poses Risks

Incoming Government Must Ensure Justice for War Crimes, Keep Human
Rights Abusers Out of Police, Army and Civil Service

(Dakar, September 30, 2005)—If a return to armed conflict in Liberia
is to be avoided, the new government to be elected on October 11 must
ensure that those responsible for past atrocities are brought to
justice and that human rights abusers are kept out of the police, army
and civil service, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

On October 11, Liberia will hold its first national elections since
the signing of a peace agreement in 2003. At stake in the polls are
the presidency, the 30-seat Senate and the 64-seat House of
Representatives. While preparations, registration and campaigning in
the October elections have been free of major irregularities, leaders
in the country's incoming government will need to pay more attention
to the critical issues of justice and human rights than they have on
the campaign trail, Human Rights Watch said.

The 39-page report, "Liberia at a Crossroads: Human Rights Challenges
for the New Government," warned that Liberia's transition from a
near-failed state to a democratic country governed by rule of law
cannot be considered complete until there is considerably more
progress in several key areas. First, Liberia's judicial system, which
remains plagued by striking deficiencies, must be rebuilt with the
help of the international community. Second, the process of
restructuring and reconstituting Liberia's national police and army,
which have for decades preyed upon the populations they are entrusted
to protect, must be completed without delay. Finally, the individuals
responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed
during Liberia's armed conflicts must be kept out of the civil
service, police and army and be held accountable for their crimes.

"After enduring more than two decades of political instability
including 14 years of brutal armed conflict, Liberia stands at an
unprecedented crossroads," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director
of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "But failure to
establish the rule of law and ensure justice for horrific crimes of
war could undermine the hard-won stability in Liberia and the region
as a whole."

From the military coup in 1980 to the overthrow of President Charles
Taylor in 2003, Liberian citizens were subjected to continual
violations of civil and political rights by successive governments as
well as widespread and systematic war crimes committed by all warring
factions during the country's two devastating armed conflicts. The
violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of Liberians.

Candidates in the upcoming elections include at least three former
leaders of armed factions, five individuals subject to United Nations
sanctions for activities aimed at undermining peace in Liberia and the
sub-region, and several former high-level military commanders accused
of war crimes. These individuals, who have in the past shown complete
disregard for the rule of law and due process, could resort to force
and other extra-legal measures to circumvent and subvert Liberia's
political process and the legal system if elected to office, Human
Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch called on the incoming government, together with
the international community, to develop a concrete strategy to ensure
justice for serious past human rights crimes and to establish an
independent commission charged with instituting a vetting process to
screen out human rights abusers appointed to or under consideration
for civil service positions.

For decades, the Liberian police and army have been used as a
repressive arm of successive governments and their ruling parties, and
been the source of considerable instability, corruption and human
rights violations. However, the vetting procedure designed to screen
out past human rights abusers from the new Liberian Police Service was
most likely ineffective in screening out past abusers. Problems with
the process included unclear criteria for the elimination of potential
human rights abusers and inadequate human resources to conduct
thorough and systematic background checks on applicants. The new
government must ensure that DynCorp, a U.S.-based contractor charged
with restructuring the new army, pays attention to and corrects some
of the problems that have plagued the vetting process for the Liberian
National Police.

Immediately after the elections, the new government and international
community will need to begin rebuilding the severely dysfunctional
Liberian judicial system, which was left in ruins by the years of
civil war. Human Rights Watch noted that the absence of functioning
courtrooms, prosecutors and public defenders—as well as corruption
within judicial proceedings—is actually fostering impunity instead of
confronting it.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the recognition by the current Liberian
government, the presidential hopefuls and the international community
of the key role played by endemic corruption in creating conditions
for armed conflict and political instability. At the same time,
however, the new Liberian government and the international community
must demonstrate a parallel commitment to improving deficiencies in
the Liberian judicial system and key public institutions while
ensuring that those most responsible for past human rights crimes are
held accountable.

"Liberia's newly elected government will need to demonstrate its
commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights by
prosecuting the key individuals who were responsible for atrocities in
the country's armed conflicts," said Takirambudde.

One of the individuals believed to be most responsible for war crimes
in Liberia is former president Charles Taylor, currently in exile in
Nigeria. Human Rights Watch urged Liberia's incoming government to ask
Nigeria to surrender Taylor for prosecution to the Special Court for
Sierra Leone for his involvement in crimes committed during Sierra
Leone's civil war. However, the new government must also ensure that
Taylor is held accountable for war crimes he is accused of committing
in Liberia.

"Surrendering Charles Taylor to the Special Court is crucial for
ensuring justice for the victims of crimes in Sierra Leone," said
Takirambudde. "But justice must also be done for the countless victims
of war crimes Taylor allegedly committed in Liberia as both rebel
leader and president."

BACKGROUND

Liberia's first armed conflict began in 1989 when rebel leader Charles
Taylor and his National Patriotic Front of Liberia launched a
rebellion to unseat then-President Samuel K. Doe. The conflict, which
lasted from 1989 to 1996, ended with an internationally brokered peace
accord that included a general amnesty to all faction fighters. The
transition from war to peace envisioned under the accord was never
completed due to incomplete implementation of the peace accords,
particularly regarding the need to restructure the security forces
prior to elections. Instead, the 1997 elections, which Taylor went on
to win, were conducted in an atmosphere of threats and intimidation.

As president, Taylor enrolled thousands of fighters from his former
faction in the country's police and army, which resulted in continued
pillage and human rights abuses and, ultimately, a return to civil war
in 1999. During Liberia's second armed conflict, two rebels groups—the
Guinea-backed Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy and
the Ivorian-backed Movement for Democracy in Liberia—launched their
own bid to unseat President Taylor. In August 2003, as the rebels
threatened to take over the capital Monrovia, Taylor was granted
political asylum in Nigeria on the condition that he not meddle in the
political affairs of Liberia or elsewhere in West Africa. Taylor was
in March 2003 indicted by the Special Court in Sierra Leone on 17
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in
supporting rebel groups in Sierra Leone.

In August 2003, Liberia's warring factions signed an internationally
brokered peace agreement in Accra, Ghana. The accord installed a
broad-based interim government—the National Transitional Government of
Liberia—which was dominated by the country's three former armed
factions and tasked with guiding Liberia towards elections in October
2005. Since August 2003, several factors have contributed to a marked
decrease in human rights abuses and political instability and helped
establish the conditions for the elections to take place. These
included the departure of Charles Taylor into exile, the establishment
of the U.N. Mission in Liberia in September 2003, and the subsequent
deployment of about 15,000 peacekeepers and 1,000 civilian police to
Liberia.

"Liberia at a Crossroads: Human Rights Challenges for the New
Government" is available at:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/liberia0905/

For further information, please contact:

In Dakar, Corinne Dufka (English, Spanish): +221 860 3863 and +221 636 1013

In Toronto, Georgette Gagnon (English): +416 893 2709

In London, Urmi Shaw (English): +44 20 7713 2788

In Brussels, Vanessa Saenen (English, French, German, Dutch): +322 732 2009