Transitional Justice in Sierra Leone (presented by Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai)

Sierra Leone, a country that experienced one of the most brutish civil wars between 1991 and 2002, can offer answers at least to some of the myriad of accountability questions raised in transitional justice. After the war Sierra Leone established two institutions: a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SLTRC) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). The SLTRC assembled many perpetrators of atrocities during the war and victims of the same war, as well as those who created the sociological, political and economic environment that led to the war in the first place. The SCSL is a unique hybrid tribunal of local and international law, established to indict, prosecute, and convict those who bear 'greatest responsibility for war crimes' committed within the country during the period of the Sierra Leonean civil war. This presentation will look at the political, sociological as well as legal successes and challenges of the SLTRC and SCSL, discussing the ramifications of setting up those two mechanisms simultaneously and the financial implication of setting up the court.

Following a 420 day trial, the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague recently sentenced former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, to 50 years' jail for aiding and abetting crimes and atrocities that claimed 50,000 lives during the Sierra Leone civil war. He is the first head of state to be convicted by an international criminal tribunal since the Nuremberg trials.

Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai is a lawyer by profession, whose only brother was abducted and killed by rebel forces when Sierra Leone exploded into civil war. In 2003, he established The Society for Democratic Initiatives (SDI) in Sierra Leone, a non-government organization working to entrench democratic governance and to protect and promote human rights. SDI plays a critical role towards democratic development in Sierra Leone given issues arising in the wake of a one-party governing system and a decade long civil war. Although the war officially ended in February 2002, socio-economic progress remains extraordinarily difficult to achieve in a political climate of corruption, harassment, violence and intimidation. Good governance by leaders with the interests of the common people at heart is the key to progress, and SDI's unflinching commitment to this goal increases the prospect that history does not ever repeat itself.

During Sierra Leone's transition, Emmanuel worked at both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

For more information about the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, go to our website: http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/