Why Is A War Crimes Court Necessary In Liberia ?
Counselor Frederick A.B. Jayweh, LL.M (July 15 2004)
.......have Mrs. Taylor and her loving supporters truly become weakened and sufficiently pressured into turning away from war-making to accepting peace-making in Liberia? Or, have they simply packed their bags and gone to recess to await the actual departure of the United Nations and its forces to restart the act of war-making and destruction in Liberia?
"By freezing our accounts and assets and preventing us from traveling out of Liberia , the United Nations is the outright threat to peace and security in Liberia . Instead of pursuing world peace and security, the United Nations has engaged in witch-hunting in Liberia . By the act of freezing our accounts and assets, the United Nations is clearly and unequivocally guilty of committing murder in Liberia . If anybody has a case against us, then let him take it to the court, indict and commit us to free and fair trial
Instead, by stopping us from traveling outside of Liberia and freezing our accounts and assets, the United Nations has violated our human rights and has denied us due process of law. Moreover, the United Nations or the Security Council has provided no proof against us. "
~ Summary of some of the confused and frustrated charges and declarations made on June 23, 2004, by Mrs. Jewel-Howard-Taylor, Benoni Urey, John T. Richardson, Reginald Goodridge, Cyril Allen, Randolf Cooper, Jenkins Dunbar, Charles Bright and Myrtle Gibson, some of the core and active members of the executive committee of Mr. Taylor’s National Patriotic Party of Liberia |
These charges and counter-charges, we understand, were made by Mrs. Taylor and her associates during a live press conference in Liberia .
These declarations and counter-declarations, we are told, were made by Mrs. Taylor and her partners-in-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity during a normal and regular press conference in Liberia .
Amazingly, to our utmost disbelief and astonishment; these statements or utterances, we understand, were made by Mrs. Taylor and her followers at a “normal” press conference in Monrovia, instead of them giving orders for war or for the active use of force against the UN; for daring and attempting to freeze their hard-earned self-enriched riches and for preventing them to travel abroad and to administer and enjoy their assets and loots gained over the sweat and blood of foreign nationals and the Liberian people.
To some Liberians, this exceptional mold and manner of expressing their frustrations and feelings; and/or the problem-solving methods employed and adopted by Mrs. Taylor and her brethrens-in-crimes-against-the-peace-and-dignity-of-others, represents true reconciliation and peace-making.
True reconciliation and peace-making because, by conducting a pure press conference and not resorting to making war, Mrs. Taylor and the other war criminals have consciously graduated from the university of war-making to the world of peace-making and conflict resolution. Certainly, this new attitude to some is welcoming and appreciating.
Welcoming and appreciating, because this strange change in attitude and action is representative of the fact that Liberia will no longer be denominated and referred to as the Republic of Taylor-land .
On the other hand, some Liberians might be beating their chests and saying that by holding a press conference and not resorting to giving orders to their predominantly child-soldiers to make war in Liberia; indicates that Mrs. Taylor and her associates are now declared weak in the face of the United Nations and are now sufficiently pressured into peace-making and peace-encouragement. And thus, Liberians need to no longer entertain any worries or fears relative to sustaining future peace and security in Liberia . In short, sustainable peace and stability has come to Liberia and Liberians and thus, neither Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor and/or their associates need to be feared any longer. To these individuals, the war is over in Liberia .
But knowing fully well what it means and entails to actually encounter the Taylors and their supporters, let alone to dare live and survive in the Republic of Taylor-land, or attempt to challenge the rule of the Taylors, the testing and controlling question is and remains, have Mrs. Taylor and her loving supporters truly become weakened and sufficiently pressured into turning away from war-making to accepting peace-making in Liberia? Or, have they simply packed their bags and gone to recess to await the actual departure of the United Nations and its forces to restart the act of war-making and destruction in Liberia?
In the Republic of Taylor-land/the Republic of Liberia , every Liberian knows and can attest that anyone who attended and graduated from Mr. Charles G. Taylor’s University of death and destruction, graduated and earned a Master of Arts degree in tricks and deceptions.
Or better still, those persons were required to take a regular course styled and known as Tricks and Deceptions 101. This being the case and considering that Mrs. Taylor and her lieutenants are charging that by freezing their accounts and riches and by stopping them from traveling outside of Liberia, the United Nations is the threat to peace and security in Liberia, can it be contemplated that Mrs. Taylor and her economic play-mates have turned away from war and embraced peace and stability in Liberia?
Liberians and the international community, should make no mistake to think, believe, entertain the inclination, or let alone reach the conclusion, that by Mrs. Taylor and her cohorts calling a press conference in Monrovia and not ordering war, this time around, they have reached the honest and dying need for lasting peace and stability in Liberia.
This is clearly not so, because in the Republic of Taylor-land, anyone who were known to and could support the Taylors went sky-free without any criminal responsibility, or to say the least, Mrs. Taylor and her supporters are ONLY refreshing their memories as to what they learned in the course of Tricks and Deceptions 101.
Moreover, in the Republic of Taylor-land, a land where Mr. Charles G. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor and their associates were commanders-in-chief for deaths and destructions, where secret disappearances and extra-judicial killings were committed at-will by the Taylors and anyone who stood for, and supported their cause; a land where the Taylors and their cronies were the paramount chiefs and emperors of the distinct legislative, executive and judiciary branches of government, where specifically, the judiciary and most of its judges inflicted the law to suit the taste and wishes of Mr. Taylor and his supporters, the fact that Mrs. Taylor and her associates, this time around are seemingly preaching peace-making and yelling out loud for the apparent violation of their human rights, without making war in Liberia, in and of itself and standing alone, does not and cannot amount to lasting peace and security in Liberia.
In this vein, why is war crime court necessary in Liberia?
To Establish Criminal Responsibility in Liberia
When you imagine or attempt to recount the number of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the peace and dignity of others committed in Liberia by Mrs. Taylor and her brethren that went unpunished, you cannot help but to challenge the international community and the United Nations to make haste and ensure that a war crimes court is established in Liberia to:
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally committing genocide in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her lieutenants for intentionally committing crimes that threatened the peace and security of Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her cronies for intentionally committing willful murder in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her cohorts for intentionally committing the crime of aggression against the civilian population in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her economic-play-mates for intentionally committing the crime of enslavement in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her supporters for intentionally committing the crime of extermination in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her supporter for intentionally directing willful attacks against the civilian population in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally attacking and killing the residents of carter camp, Harbel, Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally attacking and killing most opposition leaders in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally destroying the peace and security of Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally attacking and killing the residents of dupo-road-cow-field.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally attacking and killing Market-woman Nowah Flomo without any cause.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally causing enforced disappearances in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally committing the crime of rape and other sexual offenses in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally attacking and killing the Catholic sisters in Gradnerville, Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for criminally and intentionally causing suffering and separation of family members in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally recruiting and sending underage Liberians to war in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally killing and women and children in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally committing crimes gainst the peace and dignity of others in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally committing the crime of force Labour in Liberia.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates because they asked the international community for justice.
- Bring justice to Mrs. Taylor and her associates for intentionally looting dry the resources and revenue of Liberia. And lastly,
- Bring to end the culture of crime and impunity actively growing in Liberia. Why is war crime court necessary in Liberia?
To Establish Justice in Liberia
To successfully argue and determine whether the establishment of justice is imperative and necessary in Liberia, the attending issue is; are Mrs. Taylor and her associates personally and collectively responsible for intentionally committing the crimes as highlighted and contained above?
Thus relative to the foregoing question and concern, international law in summary says this:
Anyone who conspires, incites and directs the commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the peace and dignity of others, is personally and criminally responsible for the commission of such crimes, whether he/she physically or personally committed such crimes or not. (The Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian in Time of War, Articles 27-34, Rome Statute of International Court, Article 25, a-f and International Human Rights, Problems of Law, Policy and Practice, P838-879 .)
In other words, when troops under the command and control of a commander-in-chief commit massacres and commits atrocities against the civilian population, as it was always and repeatedly the case in the Republic of Taylor-land/Liberia, and under the Taylors administration, the criminal responsibility clearly and squarely rests not ONLY on the shoulders of the actual perpetrators, but also becomes the criminal and personal responsibility of that commander-in-chief. In this case, the Taylors and their supporters.
Moreover, such a responsibility arises directly and squarely when the massacres and atrocities in issue were committed in pursuance of an order of the commander-in-chief and with his concern. Additionally, such a commander-in-chief, like Mrs. Taylor and her associates, is also responsible if he/she has actual knowledge, or should have had the knowledge, through reports of the massacres or atrocities reported to him directly or otherwise, and he/she fails to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the commission of the massacres and atrocities or fails to investigate.
Can Mrs. Taylor and her supporters proudly provide evidence that they ever investigated the willful killings and destructions committed by their army starting from their rebel army to the so-called national army? Heck, No.
Trust me, Whether it be for consciously and intentionally putting to death the over 250,000 innocent Liberians and foreign nationals in Liberia or not, or for intentionally looting dry the national revenue and resources of Liberia, God willing, Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor and their associates will certainly be identified, indicted and tried.
Whether it be before a specialized international court, like that of the court currently sitting in Sierra Leone or before an international criminal court like the court that is intended to sit in Iraq; Mrs. Taylor, her associates and all other war criminals untouched in Liberia will face justice in Liberia.
Remember a thousand years is literally a day in the sight of God.
_____________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Counselor-At-Law, Frederick A.B. Jayweh worked as a Human Rights Lawyer in Liberia, he is a member of the Liberian National Bar Association, former Executive Director of Civil Rights Association of Liberian Lawyers, Inc., and an LL.M graduate of University of Denver College of Law, and currently resides in Denver, Colorado. Counselor Jayweh can be reached at: 303-884-2653 and fjayweh@hotmail.com
Other articles by Counselor Frederick A.B. Jayweh, LL.M |
