A United Nations-backed tribunal to try those accused of war crimes in Sierra Leone’s civil war is likely to be functioning by the autumn, after being approved by the UN Security Council last week.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone will be composed of lawyers and judges drawn both from Sierra Leone and overseas. The workings of the court are likely to be watched closely to see if this hybrid national-international model could serve as a useful template for delivering justice in the aftermath of other conflicts.

Announcing on March 20 that the Security Council had given the go-ahead to the Special Court, the UN’s assistant secretary-general for legal affairs, Raph Zacklin, emphasized that it would be a "leaner" and faster body than existing tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. These tribunals were recently criticized by the US ambassador for war crimes for being costly and inefficient.

The Special Court will try defendants for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. The most prominent defendant is expected to be Foday Sankoh, leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front, which became notorious for chopping off people’s limbs as a tactic of terror.

Zacklin predicted that judges, prosecutors and registrars would be appointed within the next few weeks. The majority of judges, the chief prosecutor and the registrar will be appointed by the United Nations, with a smaller number of judges and the deputy prosecutor named by the government of Sierra Leone.

The court’s budget is predicted to be $60 million over three years, which would make its annual cost about one-fifth of the amount spent by the tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The money will be provided by voluntary contributions from independent countries, not through the UN.

Zacklin said he hoped the first indictments would be handed down before the end of the year.

An earlier in-depth analysis of the Sierra Leone conflict, including the formation of the special court, can be found in our February 2001 magazine issue:

Sierra Leone (February 2001)

Deadly Competition by Peter Maass

The Lome Peace Accords: The View from Washington by Michelle Sieff

Sierra Leone: Case Study by Janine DiGiovanni

A "Special Court" for Sierra Leone's War Crimes by Michelle Sieff

Related links

UN Press Briefing on Sierra Leone
March 20, 2002

Website of the Special Court
Maintained by No Peace Without Justice

“Sierra Leone War Crime Court to Begin Deliberations in Fall”
By Christopher S. Wren
The New York Times, March 21, 2002

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