A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

treaties include the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and its Protocols (1980-1996), the
Convention on Chemical Weapons (1993), and the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-
Personnel Mines (1997).
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court* (1998). As discuss above, the ICC Statute went
into effect in July 2002. The ICC has jurisdiction over individuals who commit “war crimes, crimes
against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression.” 195 Detailed provisions of the ICC Statute
apply to international armed conflicts and less specific portions of the ICC Statute apply to internal
armed conflicts. The major acts forbidden by Article 8 of the ICC Statute are murder, mutilation,
torture, taking hostages, “committing outrages upon personal dignity,” “intentionally directing attacks
against the civilian population,” intentionally attacking humanitarian or peacekeeping personnel
or property, pillaging a town or place, commission of sexual violence (rape, sexual slavery, forced
pregnancy, enforced prostitution, etc.), and the conscription of children under the age of 15 into
military service. 196 These rules, however, do not apply to “situations of internal disturbances and
tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.” 197
Liberia ratified the Rome Statute on September 22, 2004.
CRC Protocol on Armed Conflict* (2000). In 1989, U.N. member states signed the CRC giving
specialized human rights protection to a vulnerable sector of society – children. 198 In 2000, an
Optional Protocol was signed in response to the growing use of child soldiers in combat. 199 The
optional protocol forbids any compulsory conscription of persons under age 18, and voluntary
enlistment of those under 18 is allowed only if strict guidelines are met (including parental consent).
Although only states may be signatories, this instrument also states that “armed groups that are
distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in
hostilities persons under the age of 18 years” and state parties must take “all feasible measures
to prevent such recruitment and use.” 200 Thus, this Optional Protocol is one of the few IHL
instruments that places requirements upon non-state actors engaged in armed conflict. Liberia signed
only the OP-CRC-AC on September 22, 2004.
V. Summary of Instruments Signed or Ratified by Liberia
Significantly, Liberia did not ratify many of the instruments of IHRL and IHL until after Charles
Taylor was exiled in 2003. Then, after taking no action on certain instruments of international law
for as many as 20 years, Liberia formally joined many international treaties in 2004. Liberia has
ratified or joined by accession the following treaties and conventions:
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1950) 201
• The Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 (1954)
• Convention Relating the Status of Stateless Persons (1964)
• Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1964)
540