Liberia: War Crimes Courts Supposed to Bring Inclusive Justice But Victims Say They Are Being Excluded

It’s a mantra repeated by government officials, activists and the international community: Liberia’s victims and survivors must be at the heart of efforts to bring justice for crimes committed in the country’s long civil wars that ended in 2003. But now the office to establish the War and Economic Crimes Courts is finally taking shape, victims and survivors say they have been excluded from the process….

Liberia: Outgoing US Special Advisor Urges Liberia to Move Towards “Trade Not Aid” By Cleaning Up Corruption and Investing in Electricity and Multi-User Rail

In a brief visit, Sarah Morgenthau, outgoing US President Joe Biden’s Special Representative for the Office of Commercial and Business Affairs, pressed the Liberian government to urgently improve its investment environment so the US-Liberia relationship can move more quickly to one based on investment by American companies rather than aid from the US taxpayer….

Liberia: Four Months After U.S. Downgrade, Amid Warning of Cut in Aid, Liberian Gov. Loses Human Trafficking Case, Prosecutors Claim Jurors Didn’t Understand the Crime

Liberia has lost a human trafficking case, four months after being downgraded to tier 2 watchlist in the 2024 annual U.S. government’s Trafficking in Persons report, amid warning by U.S. officials of a cut in “nonessential aid” if the country continues to underwhelming perform in tackling the issue….

Liberia: Rights Groups Criticize Appointment of Accused Economic Criminal Lewis Brown as UN Ambassador as Liberia Seeks International Support for War Time Justice

Two leading Liberian human rights organizations have condemned President Joseph Boakai’s nomination of Lewis Brown, an accused econimic criminal, as the country’s ambassador to the United Nations just as the country is asking the international community to support a war and economic crimes court….

Joseph DanielsReporting Fellow, OkayFM

Joseph Daniels reports for OK FM Liberia, a privately owned independent Media outlet in Monrovia. With a vested interest in making the voices of people from different walks of life heard, he has covered investigative stories relating to Education, Health, the Environment Corruption and Violence against Women and Girls among others. He graduated from the United Methodist…

Liberia’s New Abortion Law Among Most Liberal in Africa, Faces Hurdle in Senate

Liberia’s new public health law, which was passed by the House of Representatives in 2022, is currently being debated in a special session by the Senate where it is facing a barrage of opposition from abortion opponents. A provision in the bill, which contains a range of other public health elements, would make abortion legal up to 18 weeks of pregnancy as long as it is done by a doctor, the most liberal in Africa….