By Grace Q. Bryant
Nimba County District 7 Representative, Musa Bility, did not sign the Resolution yesterday for the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) in Liberia, citing that he received the resolution 18 hours before session.
According to Rep. Bility, “Considering that we received the Resolution just 18 hours before the vote, I sought the indulgence of plenary to delay the vote for a week to enable us to review the proposal in order to ensure that the Courts to be established would not conflict with existing laws/rulings of the TRC Report, and conduct consultations with our constituents and legal experts.”
He furthered, “After failing to obtain this indulgence, I was constrained to abstain on this historic vote.”
“While I fully support the quest for justice for the victims of our civil crisis and for accountability for our country’s finances, I found it difficult to understand why the sponsors of the Resolution would not allow us to thoroughly review the proposal and/or provide informed input,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, over 40 members of the House of Representatives have signed and endorsed the Resolution establishing a War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia.
The engrossed resolution has been forwarded to the Liberian Senate for concurrence
According to the communication, which was read in open session, the civil wars from 1989 to 2003 resulted in death and destruction across Liberia, including the displacement of nearly half the population, horrific abuses, including summary executions, massacres, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and forced conscription and use of child combatants.
“Article XIII of the Liberian Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on August 18, 2003, provided for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as an opportunity for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences, in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation,” the communication noted.
The Legislature enacted the Act to Establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC ACT) in 2005, formally creating the TRC with a mandate to promote national peace, security, unity, and reconciliation by investigating gross human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law, sexual violations, economic crimes that occurred between January 1979 and October 2003.
The communication maintained that the Liberian TRC submitted its final report to the National Legislature on December 19, 2009, recommending the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Court of Liberia, an international domestic court with authority to prosecute individuals accused of gross human rights violations, serious humanitarian laws violations, and certain domestic crimes.
Section 48 of the TRC Act provides that “The Head of State shall report to the National Legislature within three months of receipt of the report of the TRC, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, as to the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations, and all recommendations shall be implemented, and where the implementation of any recommendation has not been complied with, the Legislature shall require the Head of State to show cause for such non-compliance.”
The Government of Liberia has not fully implemented the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to date, including the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Court for Liberia, despite being obligated to do so under the TRC Act and Resolution for Establishment of a War Crimes Court.
Liberia has not prosecuted a single person for the grave crimes committed during its armed conflicts from 1989 to 2003.
The United Nations (UN) and other international partners have experience with the creation and functioning of war crimes courts, including courts with international and domestic participation and expertise.
The UN Human Rights Committee in July 2018, expressed, with regard to Liberia, concerns that none of the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and crimes mentioned in the TRC report had been brought to justice, and urged Liberia to establish a process to bring about accountability for past crimes and report back to the issue of impunity and accountability for civil wars-era crimes by 2020.
