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Sierra Leone: Human Rights Documents
Sierra Leone: Human Rights Documents
Date distributed (ymd): 990627
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: West Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +security/peace+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains excerpts from three recent documents on
human rights in Sierra Leone, from Human Rights Watch, the UN
Integrated Regional Information Network, and the Intenational
League for Human Rights. For updates on the peace
negotiations see
http://www.africanews.org/west/sierraleone
and additional news sources in:
http://www.africapolicy.org/featdocs/westnews.htm
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299 USA.
E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org; Web: http://www.hrw.org
Shocking War Crimes in Sierra Leone:
New Testimonies on
Mutilation, Rape of Civilians
[full report available on web:
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/sierra]
(New York, June 24, 1999) -- Rebel forces in Sierra Leone
systematically murdered, mutilated, and raped civilians during
their January offensive, Human Rights Watch charged today. In
a report released on the eve of an important United Nations
visit to Freetown, Human Rights Watch documented how entire
families were gunned down in the street, children and adults
had their limbs hacked off with machetes, and girls and young
women were taken to rebel bases and sexually abused.
Government forces and the Nigerian-led peacekeeping force
supporting them also carried out serious abuses, although to
a lesser extent, including over 180 summary executions of
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and suspected
collaborators.
"The January l999 offensive against Freetown marked the most
intensive and concentrated period of human rights violations
in Sierra Leone's eight-year civil war," said Peter
Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of
Human Rights Watch.
"This is not a war in which civilians are accidental victims,"
said Takirambudde. "This is a war in which civilians are the
targets. The crimes against humanity described in this report
are unspeakably brutal, and the world must not simply avert
its attention from the crisis. The U.N. and its members states
must show that the rights of all human beings are of equal
value."
Takirambudde urged Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner
for Human Rights who visits Freetown, Sierra Leone on June 24,
to mobilize international support for the investigation and
punishment of Sierra Leone's war criminals.
While the current peace negotiations taking place in Lome,
Togo, offer some hope that the civil war may come to a close,
Human Rights Watch cautioned against granting amnesty to human
rights violators as a condition for peace. "Conflict in Sierra
Leone has been so tenacious precisely because of this cycle of
impunity," said Takirambudde. "Those responsible for torture
and mutilations should not walk away scot-free."
The sixty-page report, "Getting Away with Murder, Mutilation,
and Rape: New Testimony from Sierra Leone," documents how, as
rebels took control of the city in January 1999, they made
little distinction between civilian and military targets.
Testimonies from victims and survivors describe numerous
massacres of civilians gathered in houses, churches and
mosques. One massacre in a mosque on January 22 resulted in
the deaths of sixty-six people. A woman describes how she
escaped from a burning house after rebels set her mother and
daughter on fire. A child recounts how, from her hiding place,
she watched rebels execute seventeen of her family and
friends.
The report also includes testimonies from girls and women who
describe how they were systematically rounded up by the
rebels, brought to rebel command centers and then subjected to
individual and gang-rape. Young girls under seventeen, and
particularly those deemed to be virgins, were specifically
targeted, and hundreds of them were later abducted by the
rebels.
The rebels carried out large numbers of mutilations, in
particular amputation of hands, arms, legs, and other parts of
the body. In Freetown, several hundred people, mostly men but
also women and children, were killed and maimed in this way.
Twenty six civilians were the victims of double arm
amputations. One eleven-year-old girl describes how she and
two of her friends were taken away by a group of rebels, who
then hacked off both of their hands.
It is difficult to ascertain what level of the RUF command
ordered these human rights abuses, but the report describes
how many of the attacks seemed to be well organized, and some
were clearly planned and premeditated. Victims and witnesses
describe widespread participation in the abuses, with very few
accounts of individual combatants or commanders trying to halt
them. The report documents special operations to round up
civilians for mutilation, rape, and execution, as well as the
existence of units specializing in particular forms of
atrocities.
The report also documents how the RUF made extensive use of
human shields both to enter Freetown and as defense against
the air power of the Nigerian-led Economic Community of West
African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) peacekeeping force.
As the rebels withdrew, they set neighborhoods on fire,
leaving up to 80 percent of some areas in ashes and an
estimated 51,000 civilians homeless.
While the RUF committed the vast majority of atrocities and
other violations of international humanitarian law during the
battle for Freetown, those defending the capital also
committed serious abuses, both during and after the rebel
incursion. The report documents how members of ECOMOG, and to
a lesser extent members of the Civil Defense Forces(CDF) and
Sierra Leonean Police, routinely executed RUF prisoners and
their suspected collaborators or sympathizers. While the
victims were mostly young men, witnesses confirm the execution
of some women, and children as young as eight. Officers to the
level of captain were present and sometimes participated in
these executions.
Human Rights Watch calls on all parties to the war, but
especially the RUF rebels, who have been guilty of the worst
abuses, to respect international humanitarian law as laid down
in the Geneva Conventions and its protocols. In particular,
parties to the conflict must distinguish at all times between
civilians and combatants and desist from targeting civilians
for attack.
"Influencing the actions of the rebel forces in Sierra Leone
is difficult," said Takirambudde. "But international pressure
must be maintained to cease indiscriminate killings, rape,
mutilation, and the abduction of civilians, especially
children."
While the international response to the Kosovo crisis has
demonstrated how quickly and forcefully it can react to a
human rights catastrophe, Human Rights Watch noted with
concern the stark contrast with the lack of international
response that these appalling atrocities committed in Sierra
Leone have received. Eight years of war there have left over
50,000 dead and one million civilians displaced.
For more information, please contact: In Freetown: Corinne
Dufka +232-22-23-11-85 In New York: Zachary Freeman
+212-216-1834 In New York: Carroll Bogert +212-216-1244 In
London: Bronwen Manby +44-171-713-1995 In London: Urmi Shah
+44-171-713-1995 In Brussels: Lotte Leicht +32-2-732-2009
International League for Human Rights
432 Park Avenue South, Suite 1103
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212.684.1221 ext 103; Fax: 212.684.1696
E-mail: africa@ilhr.org; WWW: http://www.ilhr.org
June 23, 1999, letter sent by the International League for
Human Rights to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Mary Robinson, in regard to her June 24-25 visit to Sierra
Leone:
[Excerpts]
Dear Madame High Commissioner:
Your decision to visit Sierra Leone encourages us to hope that
the United Nations, having the opportunity and the ability,
will make some progress in protecting and promoting the human
rights of the people of Sierra Leone. The country has become
the site of some of the worst human rights violations on the
African continent since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, for which
the international community has apologized for inaction. Yet
we are extremely concerned that this lesson may be forgotten,
and recent history will repeat itself in Sierra Leone. ...
We support your efforts to draw attention to the plight of
civilians in Sierra Leone, against whom war has been waged,
and encourage you to take specific steps to ensure the actual
implementation of human rights, such as:
1. Building International Support for Decommissioning and
Reintegration Programs
Many RUF fighters have indicated in various interviews with
local journalists that they would be willing to lay down their
arms if there were a more substantial decommissioning and
reintegration program available to them. Rebels who have lived
in the bush for several years, children who have grown up
without attending school -- and who have participated in the
conflict -- and victims of kidnapping who have been forced
into military service will require assistance in making the
transition to civilian life. Here, the international community
has the opportunity to recruit rebel fighters out of military
service -- and thereby diminish human rights violations. We
ask that you encourage members of the international community
to increase the support and the scope of decommissioning and
reintegration programs.
2. Securing International Support for the Independent Media
Citizens of Sierra Leone have raised concerns over power
sharing between the democratically elected government and the
RUF, and over the question of whether RUF members will be
granted a general amnesty for human rights abuses that have
been committed. The League shares these concerns, and
recognizes the dangers for future conflict that are sown in
compromising democracy through force, and granting impunity to
human rights violators. In order for a solution to be
successfully implemented, citizens of Sierra Leone must be
informed fully and consulted meaningfully about the terms of
any peace agreement.
To achieve this end, UN and international support for
independent media -- particularly radio, the most effective
means of reaching the majority of the population -- is vital.
... The independent media in Sierra Leone is in need of
financial and logistical support, and professional training.
We ask that you help to secure UN and international support
for the independent media of Sierra Leone.
3. Supporting Free Expression Rights and A Legal System that
is Free of Intimidation
The independent media must also be allowed to report freely
and without fear of reprisal in order to educate the
citizenry. However, both parties to the current conflict in
Sierra Leone have targeted journalist for reports that are
perceived as critical, or supportive of the opposing side. We
ask you to strongly communicate to the government of Sierra
Leone and to the RUF that journalists, as well as other
members of civil society, must be allowed to perform their
professional responsibilities without reprisal. ... To
date, in 1999, at least seven journalists have been killed in
Sierra Leone.
Members of the legal profession have also been intimidated for
their professional work. Such intimidation seriously erodes
the implementation of the rule of law and subsequent respect
for human rights. If there is to be any future accountability
for the massive human rights violations that have occurred in
the country, there must be a strong and independent judiciary,
and attorneys must be able to carry out their legal
responsibilities in an environment that is free of
intimidation. ...
4. Initiating Efforts to Curtail Diamond Smuggling that
Sustains Human Rights Abuses
The League requests that you see that efforts under the
appropriate UN agencies are initiated to curtail the diamond
smuggling that finances the war and perpetuates human rights
abuses in Sierra Leone. The United Nations Angolan Sanctions
Committee has recently conducted a fact-finding mission to
Angola to determine what can be done to improve the
effectiveness of anti-smuggling measures in that war-torn
country. We believe that the UN should consider the
implementation of such measures in the case of Sierra Leone.
5. Discussing a UN role in Providing Specific Protections for
Civilians
In order to protect civilians from killings, amputations,
kidnapping, and sexual abuse -- a mandate the Sierra Leone
government and the often under-equipped West African
Peacekeeping Force has been unable to accomplish -- the League
recommends that you discuss the possibility of a UN role in
providing specific protections for civilians, possibly
involving "safe zones." ... The United Nations Observer
Mission to Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) has not been sufficiently
equipped or mandated to protect civilians. ...
As a result of the Sierra Leone government's inability to
protect its citizens, it has hired mercenaries. Although the
Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the
effects of the use of mercenaries on the human rights and the
rights of peoples to self-determination has criticized their
use by the Sierra Leone government, the UN has not taken on
the role of protecting civilians. The use of mercenaries --
who are often, ultimately, a destabilizing force -- is allowed
to gain legitimacy by default.
While the UN has encouraged additional support for ECOMOG, at
present, the peacekeeping force seems unable to secure human
rights in the majority of the country. It is also unlikely the
RUF would allow ECOMOG to take control of certain regions of
the country for the purpose of protecting civilians. During
the Lome negotiations, the Sierra Leone government and the RUF
agreed to "guarantee safe and unhindered access by
humanitarian organizations to all people in need" and "to
establish safe corridors for the provision of food and medical
supplies to ECOMOG soldiers behind RUF lines, and to RUF
combatants behind ECOMOG lines." However, this agreement does
not assure us that the safety of noncombatants will be
guaranteed. We ask that you discuss and explore the
possibility of a greater UN role in protecting civilians from
some of the worst human rights violations that are occurring
in world right now.
Thank you for hearing our concerns. We wish you every success
in your visit to Sierra Leone.
Sincerely,
Kakuna Kerina
Director, Africa Program
UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
Tel: +225 21 73 54; Fax: +225 21 63 35
e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org
IRIN-WA
Update 494 of events in West Africa
(Friday 25 June 1999)
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the
UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For
further information or free subscriptions, contact e-mail:
irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN If you re-print, copy, archive
or re-post this item, please retain this credit and
disclaimer.]
Sierra Leone: Urgent attention needed, Robinson says
ABIDJAN, 25 June (IRIN) - Sierra Leone requires urgent
international attention if it is to overcome its recent
history of horrendous human rights abuses, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said on Friday.
"Having seen the suffering of so many women and girls held as
virtual sex slaves, of children and men young and old who have
lost limbs as a result of a deliberate policy of amputation,
I am more determined than ever to ensure that we focus
international concern and attention on Sierra Leone," she
said.
Ending a two-day visit to the war-torn country, Robinson said
in Freetown she was "deeply shocked" by the extent and cruelty
against civilians committed for the most part by members of
the RUF during its January assault on the Sierra Leonean
capital. Earlier, Robinson visited victims of that incursion
and of other attacks carried out during the country's
eight-year war.
She said that with peace talks in Lome at a crucial stage,
international support to Sierra Leone was vital. Among the
measures that could be taken in the short term, she said, were
international help to document human rights violations in the
country as a step towards establishing accountability,
increasing the number of human rights monitors in the country,
and working with the government and the society at large to
create a "human rights infrastructure in the country".
Human rights manifesto
Robinson commended the stated intention of local authorities
to build this infrastructure, as evidenced by the signing on
Thursday yesterday of the "Human Rights Manifesto of Sierra
Leone". This document reaffirms the government's commitment,
and that of the country's civil society, "to the unwavering
and non-discriminatory promotion of all human rights for
present and future generations in Sierra Leone." It also
contains provisions on the establishment of an independent
national human rights institution and of a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
In the manifesto the government reiterates its commitment to
raise the age of recruitment into military service to 18 years
and its intention to incorporate into national law the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Sierra Leone has received criticism for allowing the
recruitment of children into the Kamajors, a militia of
traditional hunters loyal to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
Many children have also been forcibly recruited into the RUF
whose members are accused of committing atrocities.
Robinson was accompanied by a high-level delegation of African
and international personalities, including Ketumile Masire,
the former President of Botswana.
Ex AFRC soldiers demobilised
Sierra Leone demobilised 254 former members of its former army
on Thursday at the start of an internationally-backed
disarmament plan in the war-torn country.
"You now have the right to live with your people and
contribute to nation-building," Vice President Albert Demby,
quoted by Reuters, said.
A humanitarian source told IRIN that the soldiers had been
billeted in a former four-star hotel in the west of the city,
called the Mamy Yoko. The veterans - former loyalists of a
military junta which ruled in alliance with rebels for nine
months after a coup in May 1997 - were each given an
undisclosed amount of money and discharged.
The government is negotiating with the RUF rebels for a
comprehensive accord that would lead to the disarmament of
other armed groups in Sierra Leone.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.
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