By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives ZAMMIE TOWN, River Cess – It is not yet midday and Odel Morris is already out of water. Most of the customers of her business, selling tea, coffee and snacks here in this rural part of the county are leaving, without being served. Morris says she has been doing for…
By: Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh & Khushali Haji with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia – In 2021 Emmanuel Tuloe became a hero for a weary nation. When the then 19-year-old commercial bike rider found a bag of $US50,000 cash – enough to change his life forever – he did what many considered unthinkable: he gave it back. …
By King Brown with New Narratives BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – Marpue Kpadoe sits on a small bamboo mat and moves her hands around in search of a bowl of water to wash her hands as she prepares to eat. The 18-year-old was born blind. She struggles to take her bowl of potato greens while her…
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 In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. Liberia is not…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Leading human rights advocates have condemned President Joseph Boakai’s decision to commission Lewis Brown, a former national security adviser to Charles Taylor, as Liberia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Brown was recommended for prosecution by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and could be one of those prosecuted…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice in the Biden administration has left the post as the second Trump administration took power on Monday. In a farewell message Ambassador Van Schaack called her work in Liberia, The Gambia and other countries “impactful,” and applauded the human…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives ONE UN HOUSE, Liberia—A United Nations expert has warned that poverty and equality are high among “children, women and girls” in Liberia and “are drivers” of human trafficking. Madam Siobhán Mullally, the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, said the issues were also fueling “sexual exploitation” among children “in rural and hard…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MAMBA POINT, Monrovia—The Office of Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Courts is facing eviction in from its rental space as the ongoing battle with government for funding reaches a crisis point. Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office, made the disclosure to Front Page Africa/New Narratives as he…
By New Narratives justice correspondents Yankuba Jallow in The Gambia and Anthony Stephens in Liberia. In a potential precedent for Liberia’s transitional justice process, Ecowas, West Africa’s regional bloc, has finally approved The Gambia’s request to establish a Special Tribunal to try alleged crimes committed during the military dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh whose rule from…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Liberian Senate has confirmed Lewis Brown, President Joseph Boakai’s controversial pick for Ambassador to the United Nations, despite opposition from leading voices in the human rights community in the country. Advocates had argued that Mr. Brown, recommended in Liberia’s 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commision report as one of 26 individuals who should face prosecution…
