Sierra Leone: Landmark Convictions for Use of Child Soldiers

(New York) - The war crimes court for Sierra Leone has handed down the first convictions by a UN-backed tribunal for the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. Human Rights Watch said that these convictions are a ground-breaking step toward ending impunity for commanders who exploit hundreds of thousands of children as soldiers in conflicts worldwide.

In Freetown today, the Special Court for Sierra Leone handed down verdicts against three accused men from the rebel Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), one of three warring factions during Sierra Leone’s 11-year brutal armed conflict, which ended in 2002. The judges found the three accused – Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu – guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

“This use of child soldiers is a particularly horrific crime. These children should have been learning how to read, not how to shoot an AK-47,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “We hope that the Special Court’s decision will protect children in other parts of the world from suffering what so many Sierra Leonean children were forced to endure.”

Thousands of children were recruited and used by all sides during Sierra Leone’s conflict, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the AFRC, and the pro-government Civil Defense Forces (CDF). Children were often forcibly recruited, given drugs and used to commit atrocities. Thousands of girls were also recruited as soldiers and often subjected to sexual exploitation.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was established in 2002 to prosecute those “who bear the greatest responsibility” for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, along with several domestic offenses, committed since 1996. All nine defendants being prosecuted by the Special Court have been charged with the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The trial phase is complete for cases involving individuals associated with the CDF and AFRC. For accused associated with the RUF, the defense began presentation of its case this May. The Special Court began the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on June 4 in The Hague.

“Commanders in many conflicts deliberately prey upon children as recruits,” said Becker. “Now that child recruiters are being brought to justice, their impunity is no longer so certain.”

The Special Court’s Appeals Chamber also issued a significant ruling in 2004 that the prohibition on the recruitment or use of children under the age of 15 had crystallized as customary international law prior to 1996, and that individuals bore criminal responsibility for such acts.

The first individual being tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the former militia leader Thomas Lubanga from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has also been charged with the crimes of enlisting and conscripting children as soldiers and using them to participate actively in hostilities. In March 2006, Lubanga was transferred to the ICC in The Hague.

Source: Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/06/20/sierra-leone-landmark-convictions-use-child-soldiers)

Transitional justice survey in Sierra Leone

Nearly 90% questioned were aware of Charles Taylor's trial.

A BBC World Service Trust survey, conducted in July 2007, found Sierra Leoneans rate the Special Court highly but say it could do better still.

The survey explored knowledge and attitudes on transitional justice issues in the wake of Sierra Leone’s civil war, which ended five years ago.

It found that more than two-thirds of Sierra Leoneans think their country’s UN-backed Special Court has performed well so far, while more than a quarter think the court is putting some wrong people on trial.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they think the Special Court’s performance to date has been 'good' or 'excellent.'

The Special Court for Sierra Leone

An overwhelming majority of respondents (96%) say they are aware of the Special Court, although only 4% say they know a lot about its proceedings. More than one in four report that they do not know anything about its proceedings.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up in 2002 by the government and the UN to try those with 'greatest responsibility' for atrocities committed during the civil war.

Its decision to try leaders of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF) as well as the insurgent Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) has generated some controversy, as has former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s transfer to Europe.

Charles Taylor

Nearly 90% of people questioned said they were aware of the court’s trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor but only half approved its decision to try Taylor in The Hague rather than in West Africa.

More than a quarter (27%) would have preferred his trial to be held in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.

The court gained custody of Taylor in 2006, for war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly backing Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels but he was transferred to The Hague after West African leaders expressed fears that holding the trial locally could destabilize the region.

His trial began in June 2007, but has been adjourned until 7th January, 2008.

Communicating Justice

The household survey was carried out nationwide with Search for Common Ground and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).

It is part of Communicating Justice, a joint, two-year project of the BBC World Service Trust and ICTJ.

The project aims to raise levels of public awareness and debate around transitional justice issues in five post-conflict African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

Communicating Justice is funded mainly by the European Union and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with additional funds from the US-based non-governmental organisation Humanity United.

A full report from the survey will be available later in 2007 on the project website.

The survey is based on a sample of 1,700 adults, taken from seven districts and the Western Urban and Western Rural Areas of Sierra Leone.

Participating households were selected randomly, with one respondent meeting the sample criteria being taken from each household.


The article is from the BBC, and can be found below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/africa/story/2007/10/071004_sierra_survey.shtml

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Established: January 2002

In order to deal with mass human rights violations that occurred during the civil war, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah asked for the UN's help in establishing a "strong and credible court" that would prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. The Special Court for Sierra Leone thus came together under an agreement between the UN and the government of Sierra Leone.

The mandate of the SCSL is "to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law", with the temporal jurisdiction extending to November 1996. The aim of this court was to provide relevant and accessible use of international justice to those for whom it was established, by providing it in an economical and efficient manner. These aims were established in relation to previous ad hoc tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR), both of which faced much criticism. Thus the Security Council created a new model, drawing from the lessons learned from the ICTY and ICTR.  The International Centre for Transitional Justice notes the key features of the SCSL

• Its location in the country where the crimes occurred, a fundamental quality that was to affect its work more broadly. (It became the first ad hoc tribunal based in the country where crimes occurred). 

• Its “mixed” or hybrid composition, including a minority of judges appointed by the government of Sierra Leone, which essentially meant that both nationals and internationals would be responsible for implementing the court’s mandate.

• Its potential, based on its hybrid nature, to reflect knowledge of the events, reach informed judgments, and build a full judicial record of the events in Sierra Leone through fair trials.

• Its more strictly defined mandate to focus only on “those who bear the greatest responsibility,” with the expectation that this would lead to judicial efficiency and a short timeframe for the court’s work. 

• Its anticipated cost-effectiveness, based on a more flexible oversight mechanism through a management committee composed of the main donors and interested countries, and the expectation of reducing the running costs and avoiding UN bureaucracy.

• Its independence from the national judiciary, while retaining the potential to have a positive impact on national institutions and legal reform, and to be closer and more relevant to the population.

• Its ad hoc nature, meaning that it would only exist for a certain time before winding down.

Many saw the establishment of the SCSL as the implementation of a new model for international justice.

Cases at The Court

The "crown jewel" of the SCSL is the Charles Taylor case. Taylor is the former dictator president of Liberia charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity for his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War. While the verdict has not come out yet on the Taylor case, the fact that Nigeria agreed to extradite Taylor, who had sought asylum in the country, is seen as a great success for international justice. 

Charles Taylor during Trial

Other cases:

The Prosecutor vs. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu
(the AFRC Accused)

The Prosecutor vs. Samuel Hinga Norman, Moinina Fofafana and Allieu Kondewa
(the CDF Accused)

The Prosecutor vs. Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao (the RUF Accused)

Preliminary Findings of The Court

Many accounts agree that the trials at the SCSL are moving along, although they have slowed down, which leads to higher costs for the operation of The Court. Public outreach, one of the biggest criticism for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, is going well particularly since The Court actually exists within Sierra Leone and the proceedings are occurring in the official language of the country, English. Although, there have been some difficulties in broadcasting the updates of the Charles Taylor trial because it is actually occurring in The Hague, Netherlands since there were security concerns for West Africa with having it take place at the SCSL.


Sources: 
Dougherty, Beth K. 2004. Right-sizing international criminal justice: The hybrid experiment at the special court for sierra leone. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 80, no. 2, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: pp. 311-328, http://www.jstor.org.proxy2.lib.uwo.ca:2048/stable/3569244.
International Center for Transitional Justice: Sierra Leone: http://ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/sierra-leone
Special Court for Sierra Leone Website: http://www.sc-sl.org/ including the statute.

Sierra Leone Civil War

The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002) began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, leaving the nation with over 50,000 dead.

A lasting feature of the war, in which tens of thousands died, was the atrocities committed by the rebels, whose trademark was to hack off the hands or feet of their victims. The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh has displayed a staggering capacity for brutality. In May 2000, the RUF overturned a fragile peace process and plunged the country back into war. Sankoh was captured on 17 May 2000, but this has not kept the RUF from continuing their fight and terror actions. It is well documented that the RUF is using terror tactics such as mass rape, torture and mutilation of civilians, abduction of children to become child soldiers or sex slaves and massive intimidation.

Before the outbreak of war, corruption and mismanagement in the diamond sector was one of the main reasons why Sierra Leone became, according to UN figures, the poorest country in the world. With the breakdown of state structures and the effective suppression of civilian opposition, wide corridors were opened for trafficking of arms and ammunition and drugs, all of which eroded national/regional security and facilitated crime within the country and between Sierra Leone and Liberia and even Guinea.

The RUF launched its first campaign into eastern Kailahun (Sierra Leone) from Liberia in March 1991. Sankoh was head of the military wing of the RUF that included in its ranks NPFL members and Burkinabes. According to Sierra Leonean writer Abdul Koroma, the rebels were quick to demonstrate their brutality, decapitating community leaders and putting their heads on stakes. Oxford University researcher Paul Richards claims that the Burkinabes did attempt some politicisation, but most of the lectures to villagers were delivered in French. Forced recruitment of children was also an early feature of rebel strategy. The intellectuals in the RUF opposed the methods being used, but within the first year of the rebellion, they had been eliminated in internal purges as Sankoh took over the movement. Among the victims were Kanu and Mansaray.

The Sierra Leone civilians seem to be the main target of RUF terror actions. At the beginning of May 2000, the RUF began an offensive action in the Masiaka region. Heavy reinforcements by the United Nations and British troops and a counter-offensive by government-allied militias repulsed the RUF rebels from the Masiaka area around May 14. During its week-long occupation of the area, the RUF committed well documented acts of murder, mutilation, rape, looting, and abduction against the civilian population.

Both the RUF and the government military enrolled child soldiers in defense of respective interests. This was of vital importance to the RUF’s collective power. Manipulating vulnerable minds enabled the RUF to establish an insurgent force that continually contradicted the government’s interests. The recruitment of child soldiers by both rebel groups and government forces is generally forced. Desperation for food and medical care often compels children into military life since it offers a source of income for themselves and their families.

Despite any peace agreements, Human Rights Watch reported that abuses were still continuing towards the end of 1999. Some Sierra Leone Rebels suggested that they would reject deployment of UN Peacekeeping forces if they were authorized to use force in order to disarm various factions. The process of disarmament has been slowly progressing.

In January 1999, world leaders intervened diplomatically to promote negotiations between the RUF and the government. The Lome Peace Accord, signed on 27 March 1999, was the result. Lome gave Foday Sankoh, the commander of the RUF, the vice presidency and control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines in return for a cessation of the fighting and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to monitor the disarmament process. RUF compliance with the disarmament process was inconsistent and, by May 2000, the rebels were advancing again upon Freetown. With help from a renewed UN mandate and Guinean air support, a British coup finally defeated the RUF. On 18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the Sierra Leone Civil War officially over.

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094194
http://www.globalissues.org/article/88/sierra-leone
http://www.afrol.com/News/sil007_civil_war.htm

Introduction to Sierra Leone

A Brief Background on Sierra Leone

Location: West Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean between Guinea and Liberia.

Religion: Muslims %60, Christian %10, Indigenous Beliefs %10

Government: Constitutional Democracy, Republic of Sierra Leone. Independent Since April 1961

Population: 5.7 million

Life Expectancy: 48 years

Ethnic groups (2008 census): 20 African ethnic groups--Temne 35%, Mende 31%, Limba 8%, Kono 5%, Creole 2% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late 18th century; also known as Krio), Mandingo 2%, Loko 2%, other 15% (includes refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, and small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians)

Political parties: The Political Parties Registration Commission was formed in late 2005 to review registered parties to see whether they still met registration requirements.

Economic History

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure has yet to recover from the civil war, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings, accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and reduce inflation and in 2010 approved a new program worth $45 million over three years.

Transnational Issues

As domestic fighting among disparate ethnic groups, rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone gradually abates, the number of refugees in border areas has begun to slowly dwindle; Sierra Leone considers excessive Guinea's definition of the flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the Makona and Moa rivers and protests Guinea's continued occupation of these lands including the hamlet of Yenga occupied since 1998.

Information provided by World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sl.html

Special Court for Sierra Leone Event

On Wednesday, January 25th 2012 the TJ Club will be having an evening all about Sierra Leone, a small country in the horn of Africa, rebuilding after a civil war that lasted from 1991-2002 which resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and many displaced people. Dr. Valerie Oosterveld, professor in the Faculty of Law at Western will talk about her experience working with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. 

Following Professor Oosterveld's talk, we will be screening the documentary War Don Don (2010), which follows the sensational trial of Issa Sesay, charged with Crimes Against Humanity at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The evening promises to leave you much further educated in the area of the hybrid Special Court, Transitional Justice, and Sierra Leone. Join us! 

Watch the Trailer

“This is highly-nuanced, thought-provoking filmmaking, providing profound sustenance for both the mind, the conscience and the heart.”

— Pamela Cohn, Still In Motion

"Why Should We Suffer?" Children Testify before Kenya’s TJRC

 

 

"I am a child of Kenya and proud of my country; from the flag, national anthem and its beautiful languages. Kenya’s children need the government to provide them with security, education, and medicine. We all want to live in peace and happiness."

 

These are words of a child from Makueni County who testified in a children-focused hearing of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) of Kenya as part of its investigation into gross human rights violations and historical injustices in the country between 1963 and 2008. In the first day of the thematic hearing held on December 13–14, the TJRC heard testimonies from children on their own experiences and the recommendations they had for government action. A 12-year-old girl from Naivasha spoke of the violence she witnessed during her family’s flight from their home during the 2008 post-election violence in Eldoret, and her life since the violence:
“Now we are squatters, and we want the government to help us,” she said. “Why should we suffer as children, while we were neither voted for, nor voted? The government should build us homes.”
“I lost my father, our cows were stolen, and my sister dropped out of school to become a house help,” another child testified. “I would like the government to help us get a house and cattle, go to school, and end violence.”

This was the first in a series of thematic hearings proposed to provide access to the TJRC for marginalized groups; The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Act of 2008 establishing the TJRC specifies “the Commission may put in place special arrangements and adopt specific mechanisms and procedures to address the experiences of [groups including]…children.”

“The TJRC acknowledges the particular impact that long-standing historical injustices and continuous human rights violations have on children and is giving special attention to their experiences,” said Acting Chair Tecla Wanjala in the opening statement of the hearing. “In doing so, the commission will address their specific needs and support their effective participation in the future.”

Children were disproportionately affected by the post-election violence of 2008, one of the periods under investigation by the TJRC. Children comprised over 50 percent of the population in displacement camps following the violence, and 80 percent of victims of sexual violence were children. Cases of child homelessness and households headed by children became common, according to Peter Kiiru, head of CRADLE, a children’s advocacy group who testified at the hearing.
Loss of opportunities such as education characterize how the same violations may affect children differently than they affect adults, and persist beyond the timeframe of the violations themselves. Children are also the target of specific human rights violations, exposed to serious abuses including torture, sexual violence, and forced labor. For these reasons it is important for truth commissions to regard and investigate child-specific consequences of conflict and address them explicitly in their findings and recommendations.

In collecting children’s testimony and investigating the effects of human rights violations on children, truth commissions must also take the necessary precautions to avoid exposing children to renewed trauma and to protect their identities. At the TJRC children’s hearings in Kenya, counselors met with children before and after they gave testimony, and a majority of statement-takers working directly with children were counselors as well. During the public hearing the identities of child witnesses were obscured and their names have been omitted from public documents.

In addition to children’s statements, the TJRC commissioners also received testimony from child protection agencies and government ministries speaking on behalf of children.
“At a time where we see increased attention being given to the plight of children affected by massive human rights violations within the UN system (SC resolution 1998 passed in July 2011 as the latest example), it is essential that those of us working on post-conflict and post-authoritarian transitions integrate an analysis of children into our work,” said Virginie Ladisch, head of ICTJ’s Children and Transitional Justice Program. "This is why it is important to see TJRC in Kenya conducting children-focused hearings."

Irene Nyamu, Director of Childline Kenya, made numerous child-specific recommendations to the TJRC ate the hearings based on her organization’s work managing a hotline on child-related issues. Nyamu called for child-focused resource planning and disaster management strategies, as well as an increase in the numbers of police officers and social workers available for handling children’s cases.
By explicitly focusing on children in this thematic hearing, Wanjala anticipates “the TJRC will be able to better identify institutional and policy measures that will be taken into account in order to prevent the violations from happening again.”

As of 2010, over 1 billion children worldwide were living in territories affected by armed conflict, over one-quarter of them under the age of five. This means the “average” civilian victim—a person killed, injured, or forced to flee his or her home—is likely to be a child or youth.

ICTJ’s pioneering report “Through a New Lens: A Child-Sensitive Approach to Transitional Justice” identifies some key lessons on children’s participation in transitional justice measures.

(Statements taken from TJRC website and The Standard’s December 18 article Children petition the TJRC.)

Source: http://ictj.org/news/why-should-we-suffer-children-testify-kenyas-tjrc 

Photo: A young girl tends to chores at a makeshift Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp following post-election violence in Kenya in 2008.
Jerry Riley / IRIN / 201003120831560171