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.