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Regular readers know well my on-again-off-again relationship with optimism. That’s just the nature of human rights work, I’m afraid: abuses are many, justice can seem rare.
Progress, when it comes, is often slow, and it can be imperceptible if you’re caught up in the daily horror show of the blood-for-clicks news media. To see progress, you sometimes need to take a step back and look at the longer-term.
Fourteen years ago, on the morning of September 28, 2009, several hundred members of Guinea’s security forces burst into a stadium in the country’s capital, Conakry. They opened fire on tens of thousands of opposition supporters peacefully gathered there.
The scene was appalling. Bodies were strewn across the field, crushed against half-opened gates, draped over walls, and piled outside locker rooms. Security forces raped and sexually assaulted dozens of women. By late afternoon, at least 150 Guineans lay dead or dying.
Following the violence, security forces organized a cover-up, sealing off the stadium and morgues, and burying many bodies in mass graves. Security forces also deployed in neighborhoods where opposition supporters lived, and they carried out additional abuses, including murder, rape, and pillage. They detained scores more opposition supporters and tortured many.
These crimes against humanity were not the actions of a group of rogue, undisciplined soldiers. They were premeditated and organized.
One year ago, the trial of this stadium massacre began before a domestic court, with eleven men accused, including a former president and government ministers. They are charged with a range of ordinary crimes under Guinean domestic law. They have all pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Perhaps most significantly, however, is that, over the past year, more than 50 victims have been heard at the trial.
The importance of this cannot be overstated. This trial is the first of its kind involving human rights abuses on this scale in Guinea. It is a rare current example of domestic accountability for atrocities involving high-level suspects.
Yes, it would be easy to say that it’s all happening 14 years too late. But even so, that this trial is happening at all has been a major step forward in the search for justice for the victims and their families. What’s more, its proceedings are being broadcast live. That is quite simply historic – a landmark national moment for the people of Guinea.
One Guinean lawyer told Human Rights Watch: “Unfortunately, we have been a society that accepted crimes. We are beginning to value the voices of victims, with a new type of citizen who refuses these types of crimes and impunity.”
This trial should be an inspiration to others around the world. Yes, justice for human rights abuses may seem rare, but progress is possible when people demand it and push the authorities to act.
