A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

Section iv. ending impunity for violationS 1979-2003
The TRC has been charged with ensuring accountability for gross violations and abuses of human
rights that occurred between 1979 and 2003, 258 and it was envisioned that the TRC would make
recommendations to the Government of Liberia for prosecutions and other anti-impunity measures. 259
The U.N. Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat
Impunity provide a guiding framework for the post-TRC implementation of prosecution, amnesty,
vetting, and civil claims against perpetrators. 260 There is no single model that will adequately address
the many violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the conflict. The
government of Liberia should take a creative, pragmatic approach to ensuring accountability with its
limited resources and utilize all possible mechanisms on the international, national and local levels.
Prosecution
The Government of Liberia has a legal duty to prosecute perpetrators from the conflict. It must
ensure “that those responsible for serious crimes under international law are prosecuted, tried and
duly punished.” 261 Although individuals cannot be prosecuted for actions that did not constitute a
crime under law when the act was committed, numerous criminal laws apply to the time period of the
Liberian conflict. These include Liberian domestic law, 262 customary international law, the Geneva
Conventions (ratified by Liberia in 1954), and Additional Protocols (ratified by Liberia in 1988), as well
as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (ratified by Liberia
in 1950). The Advocates recommends the following:
• The Government of Liberia should evaluate all possible options for prosecution, including
existing bilateral and international options, domestic prosecutions, and prosecutions before
a specially-authorized international or domestic tribunal. The Government of Liberia should
also evaluate possible innovative options, including new bilateral agreements, multi-lateral
agreements, and amendments to existing tribunals’ mandates. Such evaluation should be
done in consultation with civil society, the international community, and other stakeholders.
• All prosecutions must comply with the minimum standards as set forth by the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights. Thus, the Government of Liberia must ensure that any
prosecutorial process:
o operates with the highest standards of transparency, impartiality, and efficiency,
o includes specific mechanisms to involve victims in the process, 263
o ensures the protection of victims and witnesses, 264
o protects the human rights of accused persons,
o does not permit the death penalty as a sentence for offenders,
o engages appropriate investigation and evidence handling techniques, 265
o does not restrict its facilities and activities solely to Monrovia,
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Chapter Fourteen