Sierra Leone: Expedited UN Criminal
Tribunal Urged
Letter to United Nations Security Council on Sierra Leone
May 19, 2000
Security Council Ambassador
Excellency,
Current events in Sierra Leone show the urgent need for the Security Council to establish
a criminal process to bring to justice gross abusers of human rights; to strengthen the
United Nations mandate and capacity in that country to protect civilians; and to address
violations of the U.N. arms embargo against Sierra Leonean rebels.
An International Criminal Tribunal
Human Rights Watch calls on the Security Council to establish immediately an International
Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone.
In July 1999, when the Lomé Accord was signed, Human Rights Watch denounced its blanket
amnesty for the horrendous abuses that had been committed against the Sierra Leonean
people. "Time and again, the United Nations' experience has shown that peace accords
built on impunity
are shaky and do not hold," we wrote to the Secretary-General.In an historic move,
the U.N. added a reservation to its acceptance of the Lomé accord, stating that it did
not recognize the amnesty insofar as it purported to apply to crimes of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and humanitarian
law. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights, in a resolution passed last month, confirmed
this approach and stated: "the United Nations holds the understanding that the
amnesty provisions of the [Lomé] Agreement shall not apply to international crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of
international humanitarian law, and affirms that all persons who commit or authorize
serious violations of human rights or international humanitarian law at any time are
individually responsible and accountable for those violations and that the international
community will exert every effort to bring those responsible to justice."
The Security Council should use the current crisis and the apprehension of Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh to begin the overdue process of holding RUF leaders
and others accountable for the atrocities they have committed.
The Council should authorize immediately and establish as soon as possible an
International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone with jurisdiction over all crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and others serious violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law committed at least since March 1991, when the
RUF launched a rebellion to overthrow the Sierra Leonean government.
The Council should reconfirm explicitly that the purported Lomé amnesty does not apply to
crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of
human rights and humanitarian law regardless of when these crimes were committed.
Because of the inevitable time required to establish an international criminal tribunal,
the Council should immediately send investigators to Sierra Leone to collect evidence of
war crimes and crimes against humanity committed both before and after the Lomé Accord,
in anticipation of its use by the International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone and
other competent courts that respect international fair-trial standards. Beginning this
process of gathering evidence now is essential for maximizing the potential of the
tribunal to deter further atrocities.
A New U.N. Mandate and the Means to Uphold It
Given the resumption of fighting, the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), as currently
constituted, is clearly no longer the appropriate authority to carry out what should be
its principal task - ensuring the protection of civilians in Sierra Leone. Even before the
recent crisis, UNAMSIL's carefully qualified mandate - to protect "civilians under
imminent threat of violence" when it was "within its capabilities and areas of
deployment" - was inadequate to ensure that abuse of civilians ceased. Furthermore,
even this limited mandate was not fulfilled because the Security Council never secured for
UNAMSIL the necessary means and leadership. These shortcomings are of particular concern
now because, as you are well aware, serious abuses against civilians in Sierra Leone have
typically occurred within the context of RUF combat activities. Civilians are now at grave
risk in certain parts of the country and, despite what should be its paramount duty,
UNAMSIL is not currently offering them any protection.
The Security Council should urgently give a new mandate and all necessary means to a
reconstituted UNAMSIL or an alternative international force to enable it as quickly as
possible to protect civilians throughout Sierra Leone. The new force should be charged
with coordinating all international forces in the country as well as pro-government Sierra
Leonean fighters. It should deploy throughout the country as soon as possible. And it
should have the clear duty and means to protect civilians.
The new international force must operate with a policy of "zero tolerance"
towards violations of international humanitarian law and other abuses by rebel troops or
anyone else, including forces under U.N. control as well as the Sierra Leonean troops and
their allies.
The new force should have the power to arrest individuals caught in the act of committing
war crimes and crimes against humanity. It should also be given the power now to arrest
suspects once they are indicted by the future International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra
Leone or any other competent court that respects international fair-trial standards.
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Tightening the Arms Embargo
Human Rights Watch has been concerned that the arms embargo and other sanctions against
rebel forces (as authorized by Resolutions 1132 and 1171) have not been enforced. In
recent months, instead of disarming, RUF rebels have obtained additional weapons, seizing
many of them from U.N. peacekeepers. In addition, Human Rights Watch has been concerned by
reports that, despite being subject to an international arms embargo since 1997, RUF
rebels have imported weapons via neighboring countries, including Liberia, which is also
subject to a U.N. arms embargo. (We have made these reports public, most recently in a May
15 briefing paper, available at http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/05/slback0515.htm). The
RUF's ability to purchase weapons depends to a large extent on its continued control of
Sierra Leone's diamond-producing areas, despite provisions in the Lomé Accord that the
government shall "exercise full control of the exploitation of gold, diamonds and
other resources for the benefit of the people of Sierra Leone."
Human Rights Watch calls on the Security Council to take firm measures as soon as
conditions permit to stop the RUF from replenishing its military supplies and thus
preparing itself for further violence and grave human rights abuses. In particular, we
urge the U.N. to:
Rigorously enforce the arms embargo imposed on the RUF, including by deploying adequately
trained, well-equipped U.N. forces to monitor borders (and, in particular, the border with
Liberia), roads, and airstrips in rebel-controlled areas and halt any weapons shipments
they detect.
Order an official inquiry into illegal arms flows to the RUF rebels, modeled after the
U.N. International Commission of Inquiry (Rwanda), also known as UNICOI, and drawing on
the recent experience of the U.N. committee that investigated sanctions-busting in Angola.
This inquiry should be specifically mandated to investigate the trade in diamonds from
rebel-held areas in Sierra Leone, with a view to making recommendations to stop the rebels
from using the proceeds of this
We thank you for your kind attention to these important issues.
Sincerely,
/s/
Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division
/s/
Joanna Weschler
U.N. Representative