January 2004
Sierra Leone's devastating civil war, characterized by egregious human rights abuses by all sides but especially by rebel forces, was officially declared over in January 2002. A confluence of factors helped end the war, including the deployment of a 17,000-member United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping force known as UNAMSIL, a U.N. arms embargo against neighboring Liberia and the commitment of British troops to stop a rebel advance against the capital, Freetown, in 2000. But despite the disarmament of some 47,000 combatants and the successful completion of presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2002, the deep rooted issues that gave rise to the conflict—endemic corruption, weak rule of law, crushing poverty, and the inequitable distribution of the country's vast natural resources—remain largely unaddressed by the government. The draw-down and eventual complete withdrawal of UNAMSIL peacekeepers set for December 2004 and continuing insecurity in neighboring Liberia give cause for concern.
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- Accountability for Past Abuses
- Corruption
- Dysfunctional Judicial System
- Sierra Leone Army and Police
- Key International Actors
Accountability for Past Abuses
There has been significant progress in achieving accountability for war crimes committed during the decade-long war. The U.N.-mandated Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), established to bring to justice those "who bear the greatest responsibility" for atrocities during the war, had, by the end of 2003, indicted thirteen people for war crimes, including former Liberian president Charles Taylor and former Sierra Leone government minister Hinga Norman. The court aimed to begin trials in early 2004. The Nigerian government, however, which offered Charles Taylor a safe haven in August 2003 when rebels threatened to take the Liberian capital Monrovia, has refused to hand him over to the SCSL. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created in 2002 in accordance with the terms of the 1999 Lomé peace accord, and is tasked with establishing an impartial historical record of the conflict, promoting reconciliation and making recommendations to prevent a repetition of the violence, successfully conducted hearings country-wide and was set to publish its report in early 2004.
Corruption
Corruption within both the public and private sectors in Sierra Leone remains endemic. The government Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), created in 2000 largely due to pressure from international donors, has been subject to political interference and there have been very few convictions for corruption-related offenses. In October 2003, the first of three judges from other Commonwealth countries arrived in Sierra Leone, funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) in conjunction with the British government's Department for International Development (DfID), to hear corruption-related matters within the High Court. There are plans for a Commonwealth-provided prosecutor to join the three judges in the first several months of 2004.
Dysfunctional Judicial System
Efforts to refurbish numerous court buildings destroyed during the war have helped improve court infrastructure and at by the end of 2003, magistrates' courts were functioning in all of Sierra Leone's fourteen provinces. However, insufficient numbers of judges, magistrates, public defenders and prosecutors continued to result in huge back-logs. Those charged with criminal offenses spend months and in some cases years in pretrial detention. Low salaries paid to magistrates and judges make them susceptible to corruption. At the end of 2003, there were over 120 former rebel combatants held since their arrest in 2000 under a now-repealed Emergency Powers Act, without regard for due process rights. Many of them have yet to be charged with any offense. Sierra Leonean judges imposed the death penalty on some fourteen individuals this year, although no executions were carried out.
The system of local courts presided over by traditional leaders or their officials and applying customary law, is the only form of legal system accessible to an estimated 70 percent of the population. Customary law applied by the local courts is often discriminatory, particularly against women, and the local courts frequently abuse their powers by illegally detaining persons and charging excessively high fines for minor offences, as well as adjudicating criminal cases which should by law be tried in the higher courts.
Sierra Leone Army and Police
The Sierra Leone Army and Sierra Leone Police have over the years been the source of considerable instability, corruption, and human rights violations and have enjoyed near-complete immunity from prosecution. Efforts by the British-led International Military Advisory and Training Team (IMATT), which since 1999 has endeavored to reform, restructure, and rehabilitate the army, have led to considerable improvement in the professionalism of the force. There were few reports of abuses, extortion and/or indiscipline by the army; a January 2003 coup attempt by several former and currently serving soldiers failed to ignite support from the rank and file and resulted in the arrest and trial on treason charges of some 15 suspects.
While there have been improvements in the behavior of the police, reports of extortion, bribe-taking and unprofessional conduct remain common. The CFTC, largely funded by DFID, and the civilian police section of UNAMSIL have for several years been working together to restructure and retrain the police. Low salaries, lack of training capacity and inadequate resources remain key challenges.
Key International Actors
The international and donor community has since 1999 spent billions of dollars to bring about peace and stability in and facilitate the post-war reconstruction of Sierra Leone. Though this level of commitment is welcome, it has not always been accompanied by willingness to use the leverage such a high dependency on aid gives to put pressure on the Sierra Leone government really to address the conditions giving rise to continued human rights abuses.
The United Kingdom (U.K.) and United States (U.S.) have taken the lead in rebuilding Sierra Leone's infrastructure and institutions. The U.K. has for the last several years spent some U.S.$60 million per year on rebuilding and restructuring the army, police and judiciary. The U.S. spent some U.S. $45 million on reconstruction, the reintegration of former combatants, and improving the control and management of the diamond sector. The U.S. has also been the largest contributor for the SCSL's budget which was this year revised up from U.S.$57 million to U.S. $71.5 million total for three years. At years end, the SCSL was substantially short of promised contributions for its second and third years of operations.
The U.N. Security Council has stipulated that UNAMSIL will leave Sierra Leone at the end of 2004 if certain "benchmarks" are met, including the ability of the national security agencies to provide security and protect its territorial integrity. The Security Council is due to consider this plan in early 2004. Regional issues such as the level of stability in neighboring Liberia and Guinea as well as the security needs of the SCSL should factor heavily into this decision.
