Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone Court: 'There is no amnesty for international crimes'

afrol.com, 6 October - Today, the UN Security Council received copies of the Secretary-General's report on the establishment of a special court for Sierra Leone. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented the report that sets out the parameters for the court to try persons deemed "most responsible for war crimes", crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law. Its jurisdiction would apply to crimes committed following the conclusion of the Abidjan Agreement, the first comprehensive peace agreement for Sierra Leone, on 30 November 1996.

The report concludes that it is not correct to limit jurisdiction to the period following the July 1999 Lomé Peace Agreement and that the court should have a broader scope. On a press conference, Ralph Zacklin, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, answered correspondents on a question as to how that provision could be reconciled with the amnesty granted under the Lomé Agreement. Zacklin said that the amnesty given by the Sierra Leone Government was for crimes under Sierra Leone law - international crimes were a different matter. 

- There is no amnesty for international crimes. They could only grant amnesty for their own domestic legislation, he said, adding that, as long as the crimes being prosecuted fell under international crimes, there was no difficulty for the Government of Sierra Leone. He also pointed out that during the signing of the Lomé Agreement, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, who had signed as a witness or "moral guarantor", had been instructed by the Secretary-General to enter a reservation on the amnesty provision. 

Child soldiers
On the question of prosecuting children between the ages of 15 and 18, the report suggests that, if the Security Council chooses to allow such prosecutions.

The report devotes particular attention to this "difficult moral dilemma" of the possibility of prosecuting children. "More than in any other conflict where children have been used as combatants, in Sierra Leone, child combatants were initially abducted, forcibly recruited, sexually abused, reduced to slavery of all kinds and trained, often under the influence of drugs, to kill, maim and burn," the Secretary-General writes. "Though feared by many for their brutality, most if not all of these children have been subjected to a process of psychological and physical abuse and duress which has transformed them from victims into perpetrators." 

Annan suggests that if the Security Council chooses to allow prosecutions of children under the age of 18, the provisions in the court's Statute would "strike an appropriate balance between all conflicting interests and provide the necessary guarantees of juvenile justice." Among other measures, those provisions call for ensuring that in the prosecution of juvenile offenders, the child-rehabilitation programme is not placed at risk.

"Most responsible"
The report states that the Court only would try persons deemed to be "most responsible" for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law violating the common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Mr. Zacklin said the Court thus would operate on a similar basis as the two international criminal tribunals. 

According to the report, the Court's jurisdiction will cover the most egregious practices of mass killing, extrajudicial executions, widespread mutilation, sexual violence against girls and women, the abduction of thousands of children and adults, hard labour and forced recruitment into armed groups, looting and setting fire to large urban dwellings and villages. 

UNAMSIL
Asked if UNAMSIL (the UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone) would be authorized to arrest accused persons and what was to prevent the accused from escaping prosecution by fleeing the country, Mr. Zacklin said the issue of UNAMSIL’s mandate had been raised in the report. While there were a number of suspected criminals in detention, there would be a problem arresting others if there were no enforcement powers in place. He added that if UNAMSIL’s mandate fell under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, there would then be a legal obligation on third States to cooperate. 

Asked what kind of time frame was likely for the establishment of the Court, Mr. Zacklin said one of the challenges for those responsible for implementing it would be that it would have to be done quickly. “If we were to do this special court in the way that we have done the [tribunals in The] Hague and Arusha, the time line would be too long. We cannot afford to do that. We have to move quickly”, he added. 

The Court
The Court would be comprised of two trial chambers of three judges each and an appeals chamber consisting of five judges. The Secretary-General would appoint an international prosecutor and registrar of the court, while the Government of Sierra Leone would appoint a deputy prosecutor. 

There was no death penalty, and prison terms would be served out in Sierra Leone or, possibly, in a third country should there be offers, he continued. The seat of the Court would be in Sierra Leone, but criteria had been identified for the choice of an alternative host State should the need arise. 

The submission of the report follows an agreement reached with the Government of Sierra Leone after a small UN team led by Ralph Zacklin, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, visited Freetown in mid-September to conclude negotiations on the outstanding legal issues and work out the remaining details. 

Source: Based on UN sources

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