First, I would like to apologize for my extended absence from Transnational Law Blog. After graduating in May, I spent a delightful summer studying for the California Bar. That experience was a piece of cake - a cake made out of glass shards, rotten eggs and fish guts, with just a pinch of self-loathing for the icing. I spent most of August recovering by drooling on the couch and watching sports, which I highly recommend. However, my days of flipping between ESPN, the Food Network and Bravo (I wanted Trey to win) are over as I am back in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
For the next 8-10 months I will be conducting rule of law research as a Fulbright Fellow. My research will be examining the impact of moving the Charles Taylor trial to the Hague upon local legal development in Sierra Leone. More generally, my research will look at the capacity building efforts of the Special Court in order to assess how war crimes tribunals can be more effective in post-conflict environments.
I will be using this space to make periodic reports on the research as well as to comment on other Sierra Leonean and international developments. I am coordinating my research with the American Bar Association's Sierra Leone Task Force and will hopefully be posting reports on their page as well.
I am still at a very early stage in my research; revising my research plan, drafting research materials, making contacts and setting up meetings with local rule of law experts. For now, I will provide a brief background on the conflict in Sierra Leone and outline the details of my project.
From the early 1990s to 2002, Sierra Leone was ravaged by a brutal civil war allegedly supported by Liberian President Charles Taylor in which an estimated 50,000 people lost their lives and the society of Sierra Leone was shattered. The conflict was characterized by campaigns of amputation, rape and the widespread use of child soldiers. In an effort to bring stability to West Africa and provide accountability for the atrocities, the United Nations and Sierra Leone established the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002.
The Special Court is a hybrid tribunal comprised of international and domestic personnel and applying both international and domestic law. One of the central reasons for locating the tribunal in Sierra Leone and employing local personnel was to improve the capacity of the domestic legal system. In March 2006, Charles Taylor, the most notable figure in the conflict, was detained by the Special Court for his role in allegedly controlling and supplying munitions to the rebel forces in Sierra Leone. However, due to concerns that forces still loyal to the rebels and Taylor would pose a security threat, the Taylor trial was moved to the Hague.
While the trial will be conducted by Special Court personnel under the authority and law of the Special Court, the removal of the trial and limited involvement of Sierra Leonean personnel may undermine the capacity-building ability of the Special Court. By comparing the strategies and impact of rule of law development programs before and during the Taylor trial it will be possible to assess the development capacity of the hybrid tribunal model. The rule of law programs in Sierra Leone focus upon increasing the awareness, access and respect for law, as well as improving the basic due process standards of the local justice system. If there is a significant decline in development capacity it may indicate the necessity of trying major figures within the country of conflict.
However, if significant legal development can be achieved in the absence of the Taylor trial, it suggests that an alternative framework for war crimes and genocide tribunals can yield positive results. This information will clarify the function and benefits of hybrid tribunals and whether rule of law development should be directly linked with hybrid tribunals. This research will provide domestic and international policy makers with valuable information for addressing future atrocities.
I intend to conduct the research in two parts. The first element of the research will focus on the rule of law development programs of the Special Court as well as civil society, including the Justice Sector Development Programme and the Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance. These programs provide training to legal professionals, research and advocate justice sector reform, campaign for legal awareness and provide legal assistance. The research will examine the relative success of these programs and how they have adjusted their efforts in light of the Taylor trial moving to the Hague.
The second element of the research will involve surveys and interviews of local prosecutors, judges, legal professionals and law students at Fourah Bay College in order to study how the absence of the Taylor trial is perceived and how it has affected the local legal community.
The research will provide insight into how the presence of the Special Courthas affected the rules, procedures, and due process standards of the local legal system. This information will be compared with the impressions and opinions of local legal professionals as to impact the Taylor trial will have upon local legal development.
Comments