MINNESOTA ADVOCATES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
310 Fourth Avenue South, #1000, Minneapolis, MN 55415-1012 USA
Tel. 612/341-3302 Fax 612/341-2971, Email: hrights@mnadvocates.org
Main Website: www.mnadvocates.org
Minnesota Advocates’ Website of Sub-Commission 2004 developments: http://www.projecteleanor.com/2004
10 August 2004
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
We would like to address the challenges of transitional justice, in particular the Truth and Reconciliation Commission processes in Peru and Sierra Leone. We have also filed written interventions on both topics in NGO documents 12 and 13 to this year’s Sub-Commission session. Due to the Sub-Commission’s time constraints we will be brief in this oral intervention.
Between 1980 and 2000, Peru experienced violent internal conflict that resulted in the death and disappearance of an estimated 69,000 persons and the internal displacement of as many as 600,000. Thousands more were detained, tortured and denied a fair trial. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created in 2001. The Commission submitted its final report last August, but many of the recommendations are still not implemented. Minnesota Advocates sent a delegation in November 2002, produced a report in Spring 2003, and has sent a delegation to Peru this month, August 2004, to do further followup.
While we applaud the Peruvian government for creating a High Level Multisectoral Commission this spring to implement many of the Commission’s recommendations, and in adopting new legislation on internally displaced persons, Minnesota Advocates strongly urges all branches of the Peruvian government now to take further steps to ensure full implementation of the important work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In Sierra Leone, the country is emerging from more than ten years of a brutal civil war that received international attention for atrocities such as amputations, forced recruitment of child soldiers, and widespread sexual violence. An estimated 75,000 persons were killed, while as many as two million were displaced. All sides of the conflict were responsible for committing human rights abuses. The conflict in Sierra Leone was also characterized by cross-border involvement from Liberia, as well as the struggle for control of diamonds and other natural resources. Now Sierra Leone faces both a tremendous challenge and an historical opportunity for national reconciliation. To this end, two transitional justice mechanisms have been created: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Minnesota Advocates' team spent two weeks conducting on-site investigations in Sierra Leone and more than forty fact-finding interviews in the capital city of Freetown and in the Bo, Kono and Kenema Districts.
We call upon the Sierra Leone government to ensure that the important work of truth and reconciliation is carried on. We urge the government and the legislative and judicial powers, all Sierra Leonean political parties, civil society organizations and the international community to support efforts to disseminate the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report and the mechanism that will be created to implement its recommendations.
As part of this process and to avoid future human rights abuses, we recommend that the government of Sierra Leone take immediate and concrete steps to address issues related to corruption, rule of law, lack of access to education, and poverty.
Further, we call upon the government of Nigeria and the international community to bring Charles Taylor to justice by ensuring that he stands trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
In conclusion Mr. Chairman, Minnesota Advocates will release public reports this fall of its findings and recommendations on both of these situations, Peru and Sierra Leone. We also thank the Working Group on Administration of Justice for taking this issue onto its agenda for next year and we look forward to sharing our concerns both in general and in particular in these two countries at that Working Group.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.