Crimes of War

January 8, 2002

UN War Crimes Court Approved for Sierra Leone
By Marguerite Feitlowitz

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has announced that a Special Court will be set up to try individuals accused of war crimes committed in Sierra Leone. Approximately twenty people are expected to be prosecuted for masterminding the brutal civil war which has raged in Sierra Leone for most of the last decade, and which only now seems to be abating. According to human rights organizations, 75,000 have been killed in this conflict, which has featured the massacre and summary execution of civilians, systematic rape and enslavement of women, and the abduction of children for service as soldiers. If there is a hallmark of this war, it is the forced amputation of human limbs, particularly the hands, arms, and legs of women and children. The Special Court is expected to begin trials in about a year.

A UN planning mission traveled to Freetown on January 7 to begin organizational arrangements for the court, including the coordination of its headquarters, hiring of local personnel, and preliminary legal investigations. A formal agreement between the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone, to be signed on January 18, will lay out the legal framework and operational details.

The UN Security Council originally voted to establish the Special Court in August 2000, while the war was still ongoing. In October of that year, the Secretary General presented a working model for a Court that would differ in important ways from the International Criminal Tribunals established for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Rather than functioning as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations, the Special Court will be jointly administered by the government of Sierra Leone and the UN. It is a Court of limited scope and limited duration. And, unlike the ICTY, which is located in The Hague, and the ICTR, which is located in Arusha, it will be sited in Sierra Leone, amidst those most directly affected by the war.

In a telephone interview, Ambassador John Leigh emphasized the importance of locating the tribunal in country, so that Sierra Leoneans can witness justice being done. "The court will try those persons 'who bear the greatest responsibility' for war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone, with no limit on nationality. People will see the ringleaders of this brutality brought to justice."

The text of the final agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and the UN will not be made available until the January 18 signing. But sources close to the negotiations have outlined what they expect to be the Special Court's major features:

There is no clause that grants immunity to anyone, even heads of state. This potentially paves the way for prosecuting Liberia's President Charles Taylor, whose militias carried out many of the massacres in Sierra Leone's civil war, in support of the Revolutionary United Front. (The RUFs former leader, Foday Sankoh, is now in custody, and is expected to be among the twenty individuals to face trial.) While the Lomé Peace Accords of July 1999 granted certain amnesties for the sake of stability, "the UN Observer specifically withheld approval of any amnesty for violations of IHL," said a U.S. State Department spokesman.
The Court has jurisdiction to try war crimes committed since November 30, 1996. However, crimes committed earlier may be presented as evidence of planning for future actions, and/or to establish a pattern of criminal behavior. The issue of temporal jurisdiction was fraught with considerable tension, according to a source at the UN. "Because the government of Sierra Leone had passed an amnesty law covering crimes committed before 1995, it seemed logical to begin in 1996, which is also the year the RUF [Revolutionary United Front] insurgency really rose to the level of a civil war. At the same time, there were objections that this passed over the war crimes the RUF committed in the countryside, before it advanced into Freetown. In the end, a compromise was reached so as not to paralyze negotiations."
In keeping with the emphasis on command responsibility, no juveniles under the age of fifteen will be tried. There will be a special category for trying individuals aged 15-18, to facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. All prosecutions of minors must comport with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Judges will be appointed for four-year terms, but the Court is expected to essentially complete its work in three years.

The trial chamber will consist of three judges: one from Sierra Leone and two from abroad. The appeals chamber will comprise an international panel of judges, whose number has yet to be determined.

The Secretary General will appoint a lead prosecutor. To date, there are only two nominations, which some interpret as a sign of skepticism about funding and fatigue stemming from the ICTY and ICTR. The United States has nominated David Crane who, since 1977, has been Senior Inspector General for National Security Systems, Department of Defense. Dr. Crane was Assistant General Counsel, Defense Intelligence Agency, 1996-1997, and The Waldemar A. Solf Professor of International Law, Chair, International and Operational Law Department, The Judge Advocate General's School, U.S. Army, 1993-1996. A U.S. government source highlighted Dr. Crane's managerial and political skills, which are considered a crucial component of the lead prosecutor's job. Australia has nominated Kenneth Flemming, Acting Deputy Prosecutor of the ICTR. Flemming is currently in Freetown as part of the UN planning mission.

In his official authorization of the Special Court, Kofi Annan expressed concern about funding and reserved the right to assess Member States if voluntary contributions do not meet the tribunal's needs. According to UN figures, pledges for the first year total $14.8 million—representing a shortfall of $1.4 million—and pledges of $13 million and $7.4 million for the second and third years, respectively. Sources agree that this represents a 50% shortfall for years two and three. Yet a U.S. government representative emphasized, "No nation is legally obligated to allocate funds so far in advance. The present U.S. Congress couldn't legally authorize the funds [for the third year]. It's much the same in other countries." It is expected that pledges will increase as the Court makes indictments and prosecutions actually began.

Because the Special Court will try only those with "the greatest responsibility" for war crimes, other combatants are likely to be tried in domestic courts. The rules and procedures for those trials have not yet been worked out. Crimes not prosecuted in the courts will be handled through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, legislation for which was passed in February 2000. The TRC is considered to be an integral part of Sierra Leone's recuperation.

Sierra Leone's civil war was fueled by diamonds. It was fought between government forces and affiliated militias, on the one hand, and the Revolutionary United Front, which seized control of the country's diamond-mining districts through a campaign of terror that featured numerous war crimes. While atrocities were committed on all sides of the conflict, it has been documented that the great majority of these offenses were carried out by the rebels.

The war finally seems to be ending. According to the United Nations, the disarmament process which began last year came to an official close on January 5 with approximately 45,000 rebels having voluntarily surrendered their weapons to UN forces. The peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone is the largest to date in the UN's history. According to local media, some rebels continue to hide arms in Liberia.

"We hope the Special Court will leave an impression of lasting importance," said Timothy Ryan, Sierra Leone Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State. "The Court's existence should benefit the domestic justice system, through the training of personnel, the participation of Sierra Leoneans in the trials, and through improvements to infrastructure. We hope that, having seen justice, young people will be encouraged to enter the legal profession, which in itself would be a profound transformation."

Related chapters from Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

Child Soldiers
Children as Killers
Civil War
Command Responsibility
International vs. Internal Armed Conflict
Common Article 3
Sexual Violence, Systematic Rape
Wanton Destruction
War Crimes, Categories of

Crimes of War Archives

A Special Court for Sierra Leone
by Michelle Sieff
Sierra Leone: Case Study
by Janine Di Giovanni

Selected Articles in the Media

Sierra Leone Fighters Turning in Weapons, (AP),
The New York Times, January 7, 2002, p. A4.

Sierra Leone: Annan Despatches Planning Team in the First Step to Set up Special Court
UN News Centre, January 4, 2002.

U.N. War Crimes Court to Try 20 Suspects in Sierra Leone
(Reuters)
The New York Times, January 4, 2002, p. A8.

Annan Approves War Crimes Court for Sierra Leone
CNN.com/WORLD, January 3, 2002.

Selected Reports from NGOs

Sierra Leone
Human Rights Watch

specialcourt.org
Site maintained by the Sierra Leone office of No Peace Without Justice.

Selected Reports from the United Nations

Report of the Secretary- General on the Establishment of a Special
Court for Sierra Leone, October 4, 2000. (PDF file)

Twelfth Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations
Mission in Sierra Leone, 13 December 2001. (PDF file)