Annan outlines parameters for special court to try Sierra Leone war criminals
5 October -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan today presented to the Security Council a report that sets out the parameters for a Special Court for Sierra Leone to try persons deemed most responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law.
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.
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.
The Court's jurisdiction would date back to 30 November 1996, when the Abidjan Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front was signed in the first attempt at a comprehensive settlement of the conflict. 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.
Asked during a press conference at UN Headquarters about how that provision could be reconciled with the amnesty granted under the Lomé Agreement, Mr. Zacklin said that the amnesty given by the Sierra Leone Government was for crimes under Sierra Leone law, whereas 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 were 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 Mr. Annan to enter a reservation on the amnesty provision.
The report devotes particular attention to the "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."
The Secretary-General 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.
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.
The Secretary-General estimates that the cost of personnel and corresponding equipment and vehicles would run about $22 million each year, excluding such expenses as general operational costs of the Court and detention facilities; prosecutorial and investigative activities; conference services; and defence counsel. He concludes that the only realistic way to finance the Special Court is through assessed contributions.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
