By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia— Leading advocates of war time justice for Liberia have welcomed criticism by Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, in this year’s Independence Day oration, of the process to appoint Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as executive director of the War and Economic Crimes Courts Office. Dr. Pailey called on President Boakai to…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—President Joseph Boakai has withdrawn his appointment of Liberian lawyer, Jonathan Massaquoi to head the newly constituted Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts following nearly two months of public condemnation from almost all leading victims and human rights advocates and the umbrella body for lawyers in the…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Liberian government sought the endorsement of its war and economic crimes courts from the United Nations in a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting comes three months after President Joseph Boakai quietly sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary General, asking for technical and financial support for the courts. Though the…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—In December 2022, after 10 months of abuse and exploitation as a housemaid in Oman, Kemah was excited to hear that the Liberian government was finally coming to her rescue. Kemah was one of more than 300 women allegedly duped into traveling to Oman under false promises of…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—An Ivorian man is standing trial in Monrovia over human trafficking allegations in the first trial since Liberia was downgraded to the US State Department’s tier two Trafficking in Persons Watch List after the Weah administration cut off funding to trafficking prosecutions. The US government has warned the…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: As Liberia intensifies debate over establishing a long-awaited war crimes court, justice experts are urging lawmakers to explicitly criminalize forced marriage in the court’s founding statute, warning that failure to do so risks sidelining one of the civil wars’ most pervasive abuses. One of these…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: What was intended as a forum to build consensus instead laid bare deepening divisions over Liberia’s proposed war crimes court. At the justice conference in Monrovia last week, an ongoing public dispute between the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia and a…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the primary United Nations body responsible for global human rights, is today beginning the training of Liberian lawyers focused on accountability for past crimes, as momentum rebuilds toward the establishment of a war crimes court in…
A Liberian civil war survivor says the deportation of former LURD commander Mayama Sesay, also known as “Black Diamond,” has left him fearing for his safety, Anthony Stephens reports in this social media video. To read more about this story click this link: https://tinyurl.com/3p5w4v9p This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: In July 2003, N. says he watched armed fighters kill his sister during Liberia’s civil war—an attack he says was ordered by former rebel commander Mayama Sesay, known as “Black Diamond.” More than two decades on, he says the memory of the gunfire, the panic,…
Liberia and Ghana now stand almost alone in West Africa as a U.S. travel ban hits neighboring countries. In this New Narratives video, experts explain the political and strategic decisions behind the exemptions and what the shifting policy means for ordinary people whose plans to travel, study, or reunite with family are suddenly at risk….
Liberians are watching a long-awaited moment in their nation’s pursuit of justice after the Office for the War and Economic Crimes Court submitted draft bills to the justice minister to establish both a war and economic crimes court and a national anti-corruption court, even as civil society groups and advocates voice deep disagreement about how…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives A criminal court in Switzerland has found Alan White, an American war crimes investigator with a long history of involvement in Liberia’s politics, guilty of defaming Alain Werner, the head of Civitas Maxima, which has led efforts to bring prosecutions against more than a dozen perpetrators…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives More than three quarters of Liberians have openly backed a war and economic crimes court for their country, according to a new survey released this month by Afrobarometer, an Accra based Pan African non-profit research organization. The survey is a big jump in confidence of citizens for the…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Joseph Boakai, Liberia’s President, has renewed the mandate of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia and given the court a six fold increase in annual budget, quieting growing concern about the government’s commitment to the court after numerous funding delays. The president’s action will…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Leading local and international human rights organizations have joined together to issue a statement urging Liberian President Joseph Boakai to renew an executive order for the Office of War and Economics Crimes Court set to expire tomorrow, May 1. The groups, including the Liberian based Civil…
By Anthony Stephens, Senior Justice Correspondent with New Narratives Human rights advocates working on transitional justice and human trafficking in Liberia say they are shocked by this week’s announcement by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, that the US government will shut down the Office of Global Criminal Justice and the Office to Monitor and Combat…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Independent National Commission on Human Rights, Liberia’s independent human rights body, has condemned the government for what it calls “the snail pace of support” to the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia. The Commission issued its critique in a statement after Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MAMBA POINT, Monrovia – People living with disabilities and women’s rights groups took center stage at a meeting of stakeholders in Liberia’s transitional justice process on Friday. While stressing the importance of the country’s nascent war and economics court, the groups said the process needed to go beyond criminal…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Civil society organizations working on transitional justice in Liberia have urged President Joseph Boakai to extend his executive order establishing the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts which expires May 1. Key mandates of the Office, including a roadmap for Liberia’s transitional justice process and a bill for…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Liberian government said it would hold “tough conversations” with the country’s international partners in April to explore ways to deal with the “shock” of the US aid cuts announced by the new Trump administration this month. The US is Liberia’s second largest donor after the World Bank. Most…
