MONROVIA, Montserrado – Two U.S.-based Liberian groups under the banner March for Justice Campaign and Campaigners for Change International say they plan to stage a protest against President George Weah’s appearance at the 73^rd U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 18.

Vandalark R. Patricks, head of the Campaigners for Change International, told The Bush Chicken that the two groups’ justification for the peaceful protest against Weah stems from the fact that warlords who perpetrated heinous crimes against innocent Liberians have not been prosecuted since the war ended. It is estimated that 14-year civil crisis killed about 250,000 people and displaced a quarter of the population.

In order to demand justice for victims who were murdered, raped, sodomized, and saw their properties destroyed by warlords, Patricks said a collaborative peaceful protest was necessary.

“We are demanding the establishment of a war and economic crimes court to bring an imminent end to impunity in Liberia and protect the country and its citizens from future embarrassment,” he added.

He noted that some of the victims were still living with the memories of the war and are yet to be accorded justice.

He called for the Weah administration to adhere to international treaties and protocols signed by Liberia, adding that “one of such treaties is the protection of human rights.”

Vandalark R. Patricks, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Campaigners for Change International Photo Vandalark R. Patricks

When the war ended in 2003, Patricks said Liberians thought justice would have prevailed, especially after the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but that never happened.

Patricks said many Liberian human rights defenders, international rights organizations, journalists, former and current student leaders of Liberia, and war victims would be part of the protest.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by state parties, has called on the Liberian government to establish a war crimes court.

The decision follows a historic meeting with a coalition of 76 organizations, including 56 Liberian nongovernment governmental organizations and 20 international organizations.

The coalition highlighted the failure of the government to undertake fair and credible prosecutions of war crimes committed in the country during armed conflicts between 1989 and 2003.

Amnesty International, the global human rights organization, issued a press release that noted that the call by the U.N. committee was “also based on strong concluding observations on the country’s continued impunity for past crimes and human rights violations.”

According to the dispatch, the committee also expressed concern that none of the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and war crimes mentioned in the TRC report has been brought to justice, adding that “some of those individuals have and currently holding official executive positions in the government.”

The Amnesty International report noted that “since President George Weah assumed office in January, he is yet to publically share his opinion on accountability for grave crimes committed during the decade long civil war despite his earlier support while serving as a Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF.”

The release quoted Hassan Bility, executive director of the Global Justice and Research Project, as saying that Weah’s attendance before the U.N. General Assembly in September may be another opportunity for the government to make clear its intentions to bring to justice, all those suspected of criminal responsibility for war crimes.

Recently, a group under the banner of the Citizens Action for the Establishment War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia submitted a petition to the legislature to establish a war and economic crimes court.

Citizens’ Action for the Establishment War and Economic Crimes protest at the Capitol Building. Photo: Zeze Ballah

Alex Lassanah Swaray, secretary general of that group, said implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations would not only rewrite the country’s history that the culture of impunity is over, but “it would also bring peace of mind to those who lost their loved ones and experiencing trauma from the impact of the war.”

He said the implementation of those recommendations would also serve as a deterrent for future conflicts.

“Until the instigators of the war and perpetrators of atrocities face justice, the country would not be truly reconciled,” Swaray said.

Swaray argued that prosecuting perpetrators of the war is tantamount to enforcing laws on rape, murder, damage of property, adoption, and exposing kids to danger, amongst others.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a temporary commission established to investigate gross human rights violations that occurred between 1979 and 2003 and put forth suggestions that would promote peace and reconciliation.

The commission made several recommendations to the legislature, including reparations for victims of the conflict, the establishment of a court to deal with crimes committed during this period, and promotion of Liberian culture. Many of the recommendations have not been implemented.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah