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On 20 February, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf launched a nine -member commission to investigate human rights abuses committed between 1979 and 2003. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is mandated to conduct a thorough investigation and publish a report documenting gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred between January 1979 and October 14, 2003. Among the crimes to be investigated by the Commission, she mentioned: "gross human rights violations and violations of international laws; including massacres, sexual violations, murders, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes". The act establishing the TRC also expresses the TRC’s commitment to give special attention to the experiences of children. The Coalition also urges the Liberian authorities to review lessons learned from the Sierra Leone experience in order to strengthen the work of the Liberian TRC. The Commission in Sierra Leone lacked resources to complete its duties and was unable to offer reparation to victims. Prosecutions against alleged child recruiters took place through a separate mechanism, the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Lastly, the Coalition stresses the absolute necessity for witnesses and people involved in the work of the TRC to be protected from intimidation, reprisal or any other threat to their security. The best interest of the child must be at the forefront of the TRC’s work involving children.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers welcomes the creation of the TRC and its commitment towards children and urges the Liberian TRC commissioners to specifically include child recruitment for armed conflict in the Commission’s remit.
During some 14 years of armed conflict in Liberia, there was systematic recruitment, use and abuse of child soldiers by both pro-government forces and the various armed insurgencies, including the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO), Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). In 2004, over 14,000 former child soldiers were demobilized during the official demobilization process. According to child protection and human rights groups, tens of thousands of children were used as soldiers at some point during Liberia’s armed conflict.
“Child recruitment was one of the most widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the civil war in Liberia and a clear reflection of its brutality. It should be a core component of the TRC investigations,” said Guillaume Landry, West Africa Project Manager for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
The Liberian TRC is empowered to make recommendations to the government about the need to hold prosecutions in certain cases; the Coalition calls on the TRC to ensure that those found most responsible for orchestrating the widespread and systematic use and recruitment of child soldiers are among those recommended for prosecution.