Human rights groups urge Liberia President Boakai to establish war crimes court News
Peter Clottey/VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Human rights groups urge Liberia President Boakai to establish war crimes court

Human rights groups on Monday urged the Liberian president should renew his executive order to establish a war crimes court for crimes committed in the two Liberian civil wars.

Adama Dempster, the secretary-general of the Civil Society Human Rights Platform of Liberia, demanded the establishment of a war crimes court, stating:

Liberia’s quest to bring closure for victims of civil war atrocities, and ensure their access to justice, remains a major priority. We call for government and international support to ensure the establishment of the court.

Throughout the two civil wars from from 1989-96 and 1999-2003, Liberia was confronted with regular and extensive international human rights and international humanitarian law violations. These included “summary executions, massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and forced conscription and use of child combatants”, the human rights groups said.

Liberian President Joseph Boakai issued an executive order to establish a war crimes court on May 2, 2024, and publicly declared his commitment in front of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2024. However, the executive order expires on May 1, 2025.

Notably, the inability of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene further highlights the importance of the creation of a war crimes court. Liberia ratified the ICC’s Rome Statute on September 22, 2004. Article 17 of the Statute allows the ICC to intervene when a member country is unable or unwilling to conduct investigations and prosecute. Unwillingness includes an unjustified delay. However, the ICC can only try crimes committed after the state concerned ratified the Statute, which excludes both civil wars (Article 11(2) Rome Statute).

According to the human rights groups, the introduction of a war crimes court could end the exemption from punishment for international crimes and grant justice to victims. An example of this is the establishment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002. The Special Court investigated and prosecuted any individual who committed serious crimes against the population during the civil war between 1991 and 2002. The conviction of former Liberian president Charles Taylor in 2013 as a war criminal for his involvement in the Sierra Leonean civil war was a milestone judgment.

There have been repeated calls to establish a war crimes court. In January, the six human rights groups underlined the need to take necessary steps to establish a war crimes court, including the adoption of a detailed strategy. In April, the groups highlighted that Liberia has not yet implemented the 2009 report.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Vienna riots kill 89+

On July 15, 1927, a riot erupted in Vienna over the acquittal of three conservative paramilitary members accused of firing on a group of socialists, killing war veteran Matthias Csmarits and 8-year-old Josef Grössing. The riots resulted in the burning of Vienna's Palace of Justice, which is the seat of the country's Supreme Court, as well at least 89 deaths. Learn more from the city of Vienna.

Federal Housing Act passed

On July 15, 1949, Congress passed the Federal Housing Act to fund slum clearance and low-rent public housing projects. Learn more about the history of federal housing policy.

Murders of Daniel Pearl sentenced to death in Pakistan

On July 15, 2002, a court in Pakistan sentenced Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three accomplices to death for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Read selected stories by Daniel Pearl from the The Wall Street Journal.