By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Trump administration’s sweeping freezes on foreign aid continue to undermine a range of programs in heavily aid dependent Liberia. The cuts to health, education and agriculture have received substantial attention but cuts to the country’s anti-human trafficking work has so far gone unnoticed. Now…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Leading Liberian human rights organizations have praised the government for symbolically reburying Samuel Kanyon Doe and William Richard Tolbert, the country’s two presidents who were separately killed while in office. Doe, who ended more than a century of Americo-Liberian dominance by a military coup in 1980 was…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia has formally submitted a national roadmap for the country’s transitional justice process to President Joseph Boakai, a move experts say is a key step toward long-delayed accountability for war-era atrocities and systemic corruption. Among the…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Liberia has been included on a proposed list of 51 countries that have been identified by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to accept deportees, including criminals, who are not their own citizens, according to the New York Times, a U.S. media outlet. The effort is part…
The U.S. embassy in Monrovia says the social media accounts of all applicants will be screened and approved before their travel. By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The U.S. embassy in Monrovia has “requested” all visa applicants from Liberia to change their social media settings from private to “public to facilitate vetting necessary to…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives President Joseph Boakai has set up a high-level task force in response to reports that Liberia could be among dozens of countries targeted in a proposed United States travel ban. The move comes amid mounting concerns over the country’s unusually high rate of visa overstays. The seven-member body, chaired…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia on Tuesday submitted its long-awaited draft legislation for a war and economic crimes court and a national anti-corruption court to the country’s justice minister, following weeks of public disagreement with leading civil society groups…
By Anthony Stephens, senior reporter with New Narratives Summary: Liberia’s exclusion from the Trump administration’s latest travel ban has drawn a mix of praise and caution from foreign policy experts, who say it reflects warming relations with Washington as the Trump administration shift its focus from aid to U.S. national interests. The revised policy, announced…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has included Liberia on a list of 36 countries whose citizens could be banned from traveling to the US according to a draft memo obtained by The Washington Post, a U.S. media outlet. The memo “signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Liberia has overwhelmingly won a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council—64 years after it first held the role. One hundred and eighty-one of the 188 member states of the UN voted for Liberia. The vote marked a historic milestone for the country, coming nearly 22…
Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Christine N. Umutoni, the United Nations resident coordinator in Liberia, reaffirmed the U.N.’s support for the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia at an event in Monrovia marking International Human Rights Day, as a dispute between the Office and a bloc of…
Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia, the body tasked with establishing a war and economic crimes court and a National Anti-Corruption Court, has dismissed a newly submitted civil society bill to establish a war and economics crimes court as “mischief”…
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Sweden, long Liberia’s most reliable and generous development partner, announced on Friday that it will end bilateral aid to Liberia and close its embassy in Monrovia by August bringing an abrupt end to decades of deep cooperation. In a statement on Facebook, the embassy described the decision it…
Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives In a surprise move, a coalition of advocates led by the Independent National Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday submitted a new war crimes court bill to the Legislature. It came as campaigners intensified efforts to block an earlier version that would exclude so-called “international” crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity from…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A former assistant director of the antihuman trafficking Unit at Liberia’s Labor Ministry has been indicted on charges that he participated in the very crime he was appointed to help combat. A Monrovia grand jury’s decision to indict Henry McGill, who held the assistant director…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A grand jury in Monrovia has indicted five women for allegedly trafficking their own children and those of their relatives to Mali and Burkina Faso. The fourteen children—seven boys and seven girls, ranging in age from eleven months to eight years—have not been identified publicly…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: · Justice advocates say surprise bills from Senator Joseph Jallah and Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence could shield accused perpetrators and undermine years of advocacy for a war and economic crimes court. · The bills would send appeals from the War Crimes Court to Liberia’s…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New NarrativesSummary: Civil society leaders said the Boakai government’s decision to “voluntarily” acceptSalvadoran immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego García—a symbol of Trump’s hardlinedeportation agenda – violated the man’s human rights and were made under threat ofretaliation Liberia’s acceptance of Garcia came after other African countries refused to take him…
Liberia’s renewed campaign to abolish the death penalty is gaining momentum as the government pledges to submit a revised bill to Parliament while human rights advocates and international partners warn that keeping capital punishment on the books could undermine support for the proposed War and Economic Crimes Court and Liberia’s broader justice reforms. Advocates argue…
Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Liberian government has responded to a renewed push by civil society pledging to submit a revised bill to the Legislature that would end the practice in the country. The five-month, $US84,000 initiative — funded by the British Embassy in Liberia — marks the second…
Former NPFL commander Martina Johnson, a longtime ally of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, is likely to face trial in Belgium over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Liberia’s first civil war. After a decade-long investigation, Belgian prosecutors say they have gathered enough evidence to move the case forward, raising fresh hopes…
