Eighty Human Rights Watch Organizations Write President Weah To Endorse Accountability for Past Crimes at the UN General Assembly
Eighty Human Rights organizations worldwide have written President George Manneh Weah asking him to endorse what they called ‘Endorsing Accountability for Past Crimes at the UN General Assembly’.
See below the communication to the Liberian leader:
September 20, 2018
His Excellency George Weah
President of the Republic of Liberia
Re: Endorsing Accountability for Past Crimes at the UN General Assembly
Dear President Weah:
In anticipation of your participation in September’s high-level segment of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, we urge you to show leadership at this global platform by announcing that the Liberian government will develop, with support from the international community, a roadmap to ensure justice and reparations for victims of the gravest crimes committed during Liberia’s civil wars.
The UN Human Rights Committee on July 26, 2018, called upon the Liberian government to establish a process of accountability for past war crimes following its first-ever review of the human rights situation in Liberia. The committee expressed “concern that none of the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and war crimes mentioned in the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] report, has been brought to justice.”
In its final report issued July 1, 2009, Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for the creation of a war crimes court in the country, and Liberia is obligated under international law to try grave crimes committed. Nonetheless, Liberia has yet to hold a single person to account for past abuses. According to the committee, “such a situation fosters a climate of impunity and fails to achieve transitional justice.” The only prosecutions of past abuses are taking place in the United States and Europe.
Liberia’s civil wars were characterized by widespread atrocities, including summary executions and large-scale massacres, including at Carter Camp and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church where hundreds of civilians were killed in a single night; widespread as well as systematic rape; mutilation and torture; and forced conscription and use of child combatants. Attacks against humanitarian aid centers and murder of international aid workers, such as the death of five American nuns, brought international attention to Liberia’s war.
The Human Rights Committee identified measures to provide justice, truth, and reparations for civil war victims as a priority, and Liberia will need to report back on these issues by 2020. Meanwhile, calls for justice by Liberian civil society groups and ordinary citizens, in addition to international organizations, continue to grow.
Several of our representatives attended Liberia’s appearance before the Human Rights Committee and we welcome the pledge by the government delegation during the session that the government would soon issue a public statement on implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations.
By seizing the General Assembly high-level segment to present plans for Liberia to bring justice for the serious abuses committed during the civil wars, you would stand with victims and take an important step to address impunity—which has undermined development and reconciliation in Liberia for far too long—and build sustainable peace for Liberians.
We thank you and stand ready to support you in this important effort.
Sincerely,
Liberian Organizations:
- Accountability Lab Liberia
- African Advocacy Network
- African Career, Education, and Resource, Inc. (ACER)
- Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia
- Association of Liberian Journalists in America
- Better Future Foundation
- Campaigners for Change
- Catholic Justice and Peace Commission
- Center for Social Justice and Human Development (CSJHDEV)
- Coalition for Justice in Liberia
- Dehkontee Artists Theatre, Inc- DATI
- Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia
- ECOWAS Women in Liberia
- The Emancipation Movement of Liberia Inc. (EMOL)
- Flomo Theatre Production Inc.
- Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy
- Foundation for International Dignity
- Friends of the Congo
- Fubbi Foundation for Development and Sustainability
- Global Justice and Research Project
- Goba Foundation
- Holistic Education Advocating Leadership (HEAL)
- Human Rights Protection Forum
- Human Rights Monitor Liberia United Methodist Church
- Independent Human Rights Investigators
- International Disable Women (IDS)
- International Justice Group
- IsraAID – Liberia
- Liberia – America Friendship Organization
- Liberia Human Rights Campaign
- Liberian Diaspora Initiatives (LIDIN)
- Liberian Human Rights and Welfare Organization
- Liberia Judicial and Prisons Monitors
- Liberian Massacre Survivors Association
- Liberians United for Justice and Accountability
- Liberia Working Group
- Love 113
- The Movement to Establish Peace, Justice and Unity in Liberia (MEPJUL)
- National Civil Society Council of Liberia
- National Economic and Social Development Action Committee
- National Health Workers Union of Liberia
- National Human Rights Monitor
- National Street Children Activists Network
- National Student Movement for the Establishment of Economic & War Crimes Court in Liberia
- National Teachers’ Association of Liberia
- Operation We Care for Liberia
- Patriot Crusaders
- Prison Fellowship of Liberia
- Research for Documentation on Human Rights
- Regional Watch for Human Rights
- Rights and Rice Foundation
- River Gee County Association in the Americas
- Rural Human Rights Activists Programme
- Student Unification Party
- Tambasons Global Human Services Inc.
- Transitional Justice Working Group
- United Liberians Association of Alberta
- Universal Human Rights
- Voice of the Voiceless
- Women Empowerment Foundation of Liberia
- Women of Liberia Peacebuilding Network
- Women Solidarity
African civil society organizations outside Liberia and international civil society organizations:
- The Advocates for Human Rights
- Africa Legal Aid
- Amnesty International
- The Ghana Center for Democratic Development
- Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law – Sierra Leone
- Center for Justice and Accountability
- Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (Malawi)
- Children’s Education Society (Tanzania)
- Civitas Maxima
- Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley – School of Law
- Human Rights Watch
- International Federation of Human Rights
- Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice
- National Centre For Human Rights and Development (Sierra Leone)
- No Peace Without Justice
- Parliamentarians for Global Action
- Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Zambia)
80. World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Pol
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