NAME OF MECHANISM

Truth and Reconciliation Commission 

PERIOD OF OPERATION

20 February 2006 – 29 June 2009. The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began operations on 22 June 2006. It was slated to complete its work by June 2008 but received a one-year extension.

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, passed in June 2005, mandated the TRC “to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation” by:

• Investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, as well as other abuses, including massacres, sexual violence, murder, extrajudicial killings and economic crimes, such as the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate armed conflicts, that were committed from January 1979 to 14 October 2003 (the TRC was also allowed to explore the period before 1979, if it chose);
• Providing a forum to address impunity;
• Establishing an independent, accurate and objective record of the past, paying particular attention to gender-based violence; and
• Compiling a report with findings and recommendations.

Staff: Nine commissioners, including no fewer than four women, appointed by the head of state after vetting by a Selection Panel. Chaired by Councilor Jerome Verdier. An International Technical Advisory Committee was also established consisting of three persons with full rights and privileges as commissioners.

Budget: The budget for the two-year TRC process was expected to be US$14million, but was reduced to about US$8 million. The TRC was funded in part by the Liberian government but mostly by international donors [ICTJ| 2007].

RESOURCES

Liberia Comprehensive Peace Agreement [2003]
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act  [2005]
TRC official website
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 1: Preliminary Findings and Determinations [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 2: Consolidated Final Report [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 1: Women and Conflict [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 2: Children, the Conflict and the TRC Children Agenda [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 3: Economic Crimes and the Conflict, Exploitation and Abuse [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 4: The Conflict, Religion and Tradition [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 5: Conflict Mapping [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 6: Media and Outreach in the TRC Process [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 7: Giving the Diaspora a Voice [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 8: Accounting for the “Less Fortunate” and their Psychosocial Needs [2009]
Liberian TRC Report, vol. 3, app. 9: Towards National Reconciliation and Dialogues: The Palava Hut or Peace Forums [2009]

RESULTS

The Liberian TRC released its preliminary final report to the national legislature and the executive on 30 June 2009. Soon after, the report was made available on the TRC website. Due to its controversial content, the report received extensive local media coverage. This report was then removed from the website and a different, final version of the TRC report was presented to government in December 2009.

The report recommends, amongst other processes, that the government prosecute those responsible for the gross violations of human rights during the country's violent conflict and implement a 30-year ban on senior politicians who participated in the war, including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Deputy Finance Minister Tarnue Mawolo. It recommends amnesty for children and those not guilty of gross human rights violations. The report also contains major findings on the root causes of the conflict; the impact of the conflict on women, children and Liberian society generally; and those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, as well as egregious domestic law violations.

The TRC took 17,000 confidential testimonies. It included the Liberian diaspora in its investigations, collecting testimonies from Liberians living in the West African countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast, as well as in the United States.

Prior to the release of the report, a National Reconciliation Conference was held from 15 to 20 June 2009, at which the debate focused on whether the TRC would recommend prosecutions. Delegates from the conference called for prosecutions and other accountability mechanisms.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) called that Liberia establish an Independent National Human Rights Commission to monitor human rights violations in the country and ensure that the TRC’s recommendations are implemented, where appropriate, but the commission has faced numerous obstacles since the Independent National Commission on Human Rights Act was passed in 2005. Proposed commissioners have been repeatedly blocked, most recently in March 2010 [HRW | May 2010].

In April 2010, Liberian Justice Minister Christiana Tah said that a committee had been formed to review the TRC’s final report and look into the possibility of prosecuting those accused of committing human rights abuses during the internal conflict [Reuters | 25 Apr 2010].

In June 2010, TRC staff members complained that the government had not paid their salaries and benefits despite the commission’s work being done. Some have suggested that the delays are politically motivated, but the government has argued that the root of the problem is confusion over a supplemental US$600,000 earmarked for TRC “closing costs” by parliament [Liberian Mirror | Jun 2010].

BACKGROUND

In 1989, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor, began an armed rebellion against the government of President Samuel K. Doe. The fighting, which ended up including 10 armed groups and spilling over into neighbouring Sierra Leone, ended with Taylor’s election as president in July 1997. From 1999 until 2003, when the CPA was signed, a number of armed groups were at war with the Taylor regime. A National Transitional Government of Liberia ruled the country until Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president in October 2005. As agreed in the CPA, the TRC was inaugurated in 2006.

Also in 2006, the Special Court for Sierra Leone charged Taylor with 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was transferred to The Hague to await trial.

SOURCES

[Human Rights Watch | May 2010] 
[ICTJ | 2007] 
[Liberian Mirror | Jun 2010] 
[Reuters | 25 Apr 2010]