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NPWJ SIERRA LEONE MISSION
Final Narrative Status Report July
2002 - October
2003
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1. The project overall
2. Judicial Assistance
Program
2.a) Special Court
matters
2.b) Legal Advice
and
Capacity Building
2.c) International
Criminal Court
2.d) Problems
and solutions
3. Outreach program
3.a) Radio Programs
3.b) Public
Lectures
3.c) Training
Sessions
3.d) The Right
Players
3.e) Support for
the SCWG
3.f) Other
activities
3.g)
Publications/materials
3.h) Problems and
solutions
4. Legal
Profession Program
4.a) Discussion
Seminars
4.b) Training
Seminars
4.c) NPWJ
International
Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law Library
4.d) Publications
4.e) Problems
and solutions
5. Conflict Mapping
5.a) Selecting and
training Conflict
Mapping Recorders
5.b) Key people
5.c) Database
5.d) District level
analysis
5.e) Problems and
solutions
6. Submission
of NPWJ to the TRC on 28 July 2003
7. Results
7.a) Judicial
Assistance Program
7.b) Outreach
Program
7.c) Legal
Profession Program
7.d) Conflict
Mapping Program
8. Conclusion
9. Staff on the Sierra Leone Project
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1.
The project overall
The overall objective of the
project was to strengthen the ability of Sierra Leonean society to
address
violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The aim underpinning
the
project was to increase awareness of human rights and humanitarian law
norms
within the Sierra Leone Government and other local stakeholders,
including
legal professionals, civil society and others, and therefore the full
spectrum
of people and interests they represent, to participate and influence
the
processes for re-establishing and maintaining the rule of law, peace
and
stability. An important aspect of this was to facilitate ownership by
Sierra
Leoneans of the accountability processes in Sierra Leone, by working
with local
organisations to formulate and disseminate accurate and timely
information
about the accountability mechanisms through an outreach program. In
order to
encourage long-lasting impact of these processes, this project aimed to
strengthen domestic law through a process of national implementation of
international instruments. Finally, the chronological and geographical
mapping
of violations of humanitarian law in Sierra Leone was aimed at helping
to
create an historical record of the truth, including individual and
command
responsibility.
2.
Judicial
Assistance Program
The Judicial Assistance
Program seconds experts in
international law to the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice
in Freetown and to the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United
Nations
in New York. These experts provide
timely and accurate legal advice on issues that arise in relation to
international law, in particular matters related to the Special
Court. As legal advisers are seconded to the
Government both in Freetown and in New York, we are able to provide
day-to-day
advice on a range of issues that arise in the area of international law
and
assist both the Ministry and the Mission to formulate quick and
coordinated responses. This component of
the Project addresses the
consequences of the conflict in Sierra Leone by increasing governmental
awareness of and commitment to accountability mechanisms, which is
vital for
the successful operations of these mechanisms. Increasing the awareness
of the Government and Parliamentarians
of the
benefits of international human rights and humanitarian law increases
the
likelihood of legislation passing through Parliament, which in turn
strengthens
the rule of law by providing legal mechanisms by which to seek redress
for its
violation.
Our activities as legal
adviser to the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and as Focal Point for the
Special
Court were successful in terms of the provision of advice on legal
matters
arising from Sierra Leone’s cooperation with the Special Court and
other
activities related to international law. In addition, the Vice
President of the
Republic of Sierra Leone actively sought our advice on many of the same
issues,
which enabled us to contribute towards a consistent approach within the
Government as a whole. Further, NPWJ
seconded a legal adviser to the Sierra Leone Mission to the United
Nations in
New York, who followed all meetings related to the Special Court and
provided
advice and assistance to the Mission on these issues and on matters
related to
international law in general. As legal
advisers were seconded to the Ministry of Justice and the Sierra Leone
Mission
to the United Nations in New York, we were able to provide day-to-day
advice on
a range of issues that arose in the area of international law and
assist both
the Ministry and the Mission to formulate a quick and coordinated
response to
issues that arose in relation to the Special Court.
2.a)
Special Court matters
According to the Special
Court Agreement, 2002
(Ratification) Act, 2002, the proper channel of communications between
the
Special Court and the Republic of Sierra Leone is the Office of the
Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice. Therefore, in October
2002, the Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice
appointed the legal advisers seconded to his office as the Focal Point
within
the Ministry for Special Court matters. In this capacity, we held
a number of formal and informal
meetings with
persons, including the Registrar, within the Registry, which is the
body within
the Special Court responsible for liaising with Sierra Leone, and
others on a
number of different issues relating to the Special Court.
During November and
December 2002, the NPWJ-seconded
legal advisers worked closely with the Special Court Registry to plan
and
assist in the running of the familiarisation visit for the Judges of
the
Special Court. As part of the Judges’
visit, the Attorney-General’s Office prepared for the Judges a
“briefing pack”,
consisting of various documents of relevance to their work, including
the
implementing legislation for the Special Court and the Government
briefing
paper on the relationship between the TRC and the Special Court.
During this visit of the judges, the
Government hosted a dinner reception, which was organised by
NPWJ-seconded
legal advisers. This incorporated a
performance on the Special Court by the Right Players (see below) and
speeches
by various people, including the Vice President of the Republic of
Sierra
Leone, H.E. Solomon E. Berewa; The President of the Special Court for
Sierra
Leone, Geoffrey Robertson, QC; The Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice,
The Hon Eke A. Halloway; and the Chairman of the Truth and
Reconciliation
Commission, Bishop Humper.
The Judicial Assistance
program was also heavily
involved in the visit of the Management Committee in February 2003,
liaising
with the Special Court and the Office of the President and other people
within
the Government to assist in ensuring the visit went smoothly. The
Management Committee is the body
composed of representatives of States who support the Special Court,
particularly through financial donations, and is responsible for policy
oversight on non-judicial matters related to the Special Court.
As such, the visit was particularly
important, as it provided an opportunity to influence policy at the
highest
levels in relation to different aspects of the non-judicial issues
related to
the Special Court. At that time, the
NPWJ-seconded legal adviser to the Mission in New York accompanied the
Sierra
Leone representative on the Management Committee to Freetown, in order
to
provide advice and assistance and participate fully in all activities
of the
Management Committee. In addition, the legal advisers seconded to the
Attorney-General’s Office also participated in most of the events
organised for
the Management Committee on behalf of the Attorney-General, including
formal
meetings between the Management Committee and the Attorney-General.
NPWJ-seconded legal
advisers assisted the Government
to produce a draft Headquarters Agreement for the Special Court, an
international treaty supplementing the Agreement establishing the Court
on
matters relating to how the Special Court is to operate in Sierra
Leone, which
was presented to the Special Court on 10 March 2003 as part of the
process of
negotiations that had been ongoing since late 2002.
As part of the preparatory, drafting and negotiation work on
this
issue, we received and implemented instructions on the various issues
involved,
drafted the document and held informal consultations with the Special
Court so
as to produce a Headquarters Agreement that is in line with the
Agreement
establishing the Special Court, the Special Court Ratification Act and
Sierra
Leone’s other pre-existing international legal obligations.
Indeed, much of the first six months was
taken up with this task, which also included providing advice to the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on the different amendments
proposed
by the Special Court and trying to achieve the best possible text for
the
future operations of the Special Court within the territory of Sierra
Leone, in
full respect of Sierra Leone’s legal and institutional system. The
negotiations
proved very long and difficult and the Minister relied on our advice to
a great
extent. The negotiation was completed
after the end of NPWJ’s presence on the field and the document was
finally
signed 22 September 2003.
As part of the
discussions surrounding the
negotiations on the Headquarters Agreement and other issues that arose
during
this time, the NPWJ-seconded legal advisers liaised on behalf of the
Attorney-General with the Special Court, UNMASIL and other Sierra Leone
authorities such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to deal with a
variety of
issues addressed in the Headquarters Agreement. As
such, we drafted legal advice on matters including
international practice and relevant national legal provisions such as
tax laws
and other relevant bilateral and multilateral agreements. In addition,
the
NPWJ-seconded legal advisers were involved in the setting up of a
formal
coordination system between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs in order to facilitate the elaboration of a common position for
the
Government of Sierra Leone in its relations with the Special Court.
With the opening of the
pre-trial hearings of the
Special Court for Sierra Leone, the NPWJ‑seconded legal advisers were
asked by
the Attorney-General to attend initial appearances and pre-trial
hearings at
the Special Court, both on Bonthe Island and subsequently in Freetown,
in order
to provide a expert reports and perspectives on the process. Thus to
the extent
possible, NPWJ-seconded legal advisers attended all initial appearances
and
pre-trial proceedings and provided the Attorney-General with a
memorandum on
those matters. This was also a useful
opportunity to attend the hearings with Sierra Leonean State Counsel,
to assist
them in becoming more familiar with substantive and procedural aspects
of
international trials. The Attorney-General agreed to and requested this
dual
presence, which allowed NPWJ the opportunity to prepare an exit
strategy and to
build the internal capacity that would assist the Ministry in its
dealings with
the Special Court after the conclusion of the NPWJ project in Sierra
Leone.
Further, since some
applications filed by defence
counsel before the Special Court required an answer from the Government
as a
respondent, the Focal Point was requested to assist in the preparation
and
drafting of the Government opinions and positions to be submitted to
the
Special Court. The definition of the Government position and the
drafting of
the written responses from the Minister of Justice, representing the
Government, were undertaken in collaboration with Senior State Counsel,
who
represented Sierra Leone at the hearings.
2.b)
Legal Advice and
Capacity Building
As part of the capacity
building aspect of the
Judicial Assistance program, NPWJ-seconded legal advisers facilitated
the
establishment of a Task Force for the Special Court, composed of
high-level
officials within the Government and headed by the Office of the
Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice. The Task Force was
necessary in order to make the flow of
information
and decision-making processes clear and to smooth the process of
cooperation
with the Special Court, which was problematic on some occasions due to
contacts
being made with different parts of the Government in the absence of a
coordinated body to deal with requests.
As the initial step in
creating this Task Force,
those representatives of Ministries, departments and other national
authorities
likely to be involved in the cooperation with the Court were identified
and
contacted, including representatives from the Ministries of Justice,
Foreign
Affairs, Internal Affairs, Presidential Affairs and Finance; the
Immigration
Department; and the Sierra Leone Prison Services. A
workshop was then held on 21 August 2003 to mark the establishment
of the Task Force and to provide information and training to its
members, which
was organised and implemented in cooperation with the Outreach
program. At that workshop, members of the NPWJ
Outreach program provided general information on the Special Court, its
nature
and operations, following which the NPWJ-seconded legal adviser
explained the
purposes of the Task Force and what might be expected of members of the
Task
Force from the Special Court in the future.
This also provided the opportunity to engage interest at the top
levels
of Government in proper cooperation with the Special Court, the need
for
coordination of Government activities and its implementation of
international
obligations.
As part of this Task
Force, two members of the Office
of the Attorney-General were identified to act as Focal Points for the
Special
Court, thereby implementing one aspect of the Judicial Assistance
program’s
“exit strategy”. The people identified to act as Focal Points, who were
subsequently so appointed by the Attorney-General, are Senior State
Counsel who
had been progressively involved in the cooperation process together
with the
NPWJ-seconded legal advisers. As part of this exit strategy, the
NPWJ-seconded
legal advisers also ensured that the folders and files relating to the
Special
Court were reorganised and a system of classification created in order
for the
Attorney-General’s Office to have all the necessary information easily
available.
NPWJ-seconded legal
advisers were also requested to
work on some matters relating to cooperation between the Ministry of
Justice
and the TRC. We therefore produced
basic briefing papers on the TRC and the Anti Corruption Commission,
both of
which are important parts of the accountability process in Sierra
Leone, as
well as draft submissions requested from the Attorney General by the
TRC. In
addition, the NPWJ-seconded legal advisers also assisted in the
transmission of
the requests from the TRC to other authorities and the coordination of
the
various authorities involved in relation to their appearance before the
Commission.
Finally, the
NPWJ-seconded legal advisers were tasked
with the drafting of most of the Attorney-General’s public statements
relating
to international law issues, the demobilisation and reintegration
process,
rebuilding of the judiciary and accountability mechanisms.
We also assisted with the preparation of
background papers and speeches for conferences and events relating to
legal or
judicial matters in which the Attorney-General had been invited to
participate.
2.c)
International Criminal Court
The Attorney-General has
sought our advice on a range
of issues, including matters relating to the International Criminal
Court. Given that there is no person
within the
Ministry of Justice who has expertise on the International Criminal
Court, our
presence came at a crucial time as the Government was under pressure to
enter
into bilateral agreements that would have limited their compliance with
the ICC
Statute. Our advice, which was well
received, enabled the Government to consider the relevant issue on
legal, as
well as political, grounds.
During the time period
covered by this report, the
Republic of Sierra Leone signed a so-called “Article 98 Agreement”
with
the United States of America, designed to prevent prosecution of US
nationals
and companies before the ICC, which was rushed through Parliament for
ratification soon after. We assisted
the Attorney-General in drafting a speech which clearly underlines
Sierra
Leone’s continuing determination to fight against impunity and
reiterates their
commitment to comply with their obligations pursuant to the Rome
Statute. The signing of this Agreement and
the speech
of the Attorney-General on this matter highlights the need for Sierra
Leone to
adopt strong implementing legislation.
The Judicial Assistance
program also worked on the
preparation and preliminary drafting of the Sierra Leone implementing
legislation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Although
it was not possible to provide for a final draft text before the
conclusion of
the project, due to serious time constraints, a comprehensive and
integrated
set of material and a preliminary review of national legislation, as
well as a
detailed outline of the draft legislation, were prepared and
discussed. It should be noted in this respect that
preparing the necessary documents for this implementation was time
consuming,
due to the crippling lack of resources within the Ministry and the
consequent
need to spend more time liaising with the Special Court on behalf of
the
Ministry and researching national law issues as well as international
law
issues. Work on the implementing
legislation is continuing and forms part of the follow-up activities of
NPWJ in
relation to the Judicial Assistance program.
2.d)
Problems
and solutions
The lack of computer
resources within the Ministry of
Justice, including access to the internet and therefore access to
research, was
problematic in the sense that it added considerably to the time spent
by
NPWJ-seconded legal advisers in undertaking research on issues only
tangentially touching international law.
While we were able to address this to an extent by installing a
computer
network within the Ministry, long term partnerships with external
actors, such
as UNDP or DFID for instance, would have more easily allowed for the
creation
of the material conditions allowing permanent training and long term
availability of external resources for staff of the Office of the
Attorney-General.
3.
Outreach Program
The outreach
program
increased awareness within Sierra Leone of the mandate and operations
of the
Special Court. This included promoting
knowledge about human rights and humanitarian law issues to the public
at
large. The Outreach program worked
through the medium of local organisations, in particular the Special
Court
Working Group (SCWG), by building the capacity of such local
organisations to
formulate and disseminate information coherently and in simple terms.
Part of
this process included working with local organisations to formulate the
issues
in language and ways easily understandable by the general public.
This fostered the role of civil society in
promoting accountability within Sierra Leonean society and created a
stronger
civil society by supplementing them with potent means to raise the
issues
publicly, both in general and in terms of prompting the Government to
ensure
international standards are promoted.
The main
activities of the
Outreach program included supporting radio programs, organising and
co‑hosting
public lectures, running training seminars, supporting a drama group
and
supporting the work of the SCWG. They
also included participating in activities organised by our local
partners.
3.a)
Radio Programs
The SCWG has hosted an
hour-long radio program on
Radio UNAMSIL since 2001, encouraged at that time by NPWJ. This was a
regular
and reliable program, which – according to Radio UNAMSIL – generated a
considerable following nationwide. The program itself frequently had
guest
panelists from NPWJ, the Special Court and representatives from legal
and NGO
communities. The style of the program was mixed and varied between the
presentation of information about the mandate and operations of the
Court,
presentations about specific issues and interviews with panelists. The
SCWG used
the program to update people on their activities and discuss how they
thought
things were going and where they should be going.
NPWJ assisted the SCWG in
developing a program
structure, comprising episodes on various issues about the Court, for a
series
of radio programs on networks outside of Freetown.
Thus in April 2003, the SCWG began running radio programs in
Makeni, Bo and Kenema, thus guaranteeing that the SCWG had access to
every
major radio station in Sierra Leone. The Makeni programs started before
programs in other areas, primarily due to the skills and commitment of
the SCWG
representative in that area, but by the conclusion of the project,
programs
were running in Bo, Freetown, Kailahun, Kenema, Kono, Makeni and Mile
91.
The programs were aired
on a weekly basis and, prior
to our departure, the Special Court indicated their willingness to take
over
supporting these radio programs in collaboration with the SCWG so that
they
might continue after NPWJ had left Sierra Leone.
3.b)
Public
Lectures
NPWJ, in collaboration
with the Peace and Conflict
Studies Department at Fourah Bay College, arranged three public
lectures held
at Fourah Bay College. The first of
these lectures, which took place in December 2002, was also the first
public
appearance of the newly-elected President of the Special Court for
Sierra
Leone, Geoffrey Robertson QC, who spoke on general issues related to
impunity
and accountability. The panel on that
occasion also included Judge Jallow, who subsequently left the Bench of
the
Special Court to become the Prosecutor at the International Criminal
Tribunal
for Rwanda. The second lecture,
entitled “Presumed Innocent?”, focused on the rights of the accused and
was
delivered by Stuart Alford, an expert in international criminal law and
a
former prosecutor at the Serious Crimes Panel in East Timor.
Finally, a lecture was delivered on the
topic of the International Criminal Court and State obligations by
Silvia
Fernandez de Gurmendi, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prosecutor
of the
International Criminal Court. The panel
on that occasion included Robin Vincent, the Registrar of the Special
Court for
Sierra Leone. While we had hoped to
arrange more than three lectures, the series depended very much on the
availability of students at Fourah Bay College, which is far from the
centre of
town and would not attract a large audience outside term time,
therefore we
were unable to extend the series beyond these three lectures.
All three lectures were
well attended and very
successful. A major part of their success was the impressively thorough
and
candid audience question and answer sessions following each lecture. As
part of
the follow up, we arranged for the broadcasting of Judge Robertson’s
lecture on
the national television station, SLBS, which was viewed by a large
number of
people and generated discussion and debate on the issues he raised.
3.c)
Training
Sessions
A special training
session for performing artists was
organised in Freetown in December 2002 and attended by over 120 actors,
dancers, singers and writers. The workshop was a full day event,
introduced by
Mr Raymond De Souza-George, Lecturer and Acting Director of Department
of
African Studies, Fourah Bay College, Freetown, who spoke on the ways in
which
theatre could be used as an outreach tool and the responsibility of
dramatists
to educate the public about the Special Court.
During the workshop, four training sessions were held
simultaneously on
all aspects of the Special Court, conducted by Sierra Leonean
facilitators who
had previously attended NPWJ “training the trainers” sessions, with
assistance
from NPWJ foreign staff. In the final
session of the workshop, the four groups of participants put on
10-minute plays
about the Special Court, which had been developed during the course of
the
workshop. The sessions sparked numerous
initiatives and provided the inspiration for the formation of the Right
Players.
In addition, in January
2003, a special training
session for Chairladies and Secretaries of the Market Women’s
Association was
organised in Freetown. Over 150 women
attended this session, which was conducted in cooperation with the
Special
Court Working Group.
NPWJ organised 3 days of
top-up training sessions for
representatives of existing members and new members of the SCWG in
March 2003.
These sessions were conducted in cooperation with the Special Court
Working
Group and were attended by over 100 people.
Following these “top up” trainings, NPWJ, in cooperation with
the SCWG,
organised and implemented thirteen one-day training sessions in
locations in
every district headquarter town in Sierra Leone from March to May
2003. Around 500 people representing over 220
different organisations, including traditional institutions, NGOs,
ex-combatant
groups and the government, attended these lively in-depth sessions.
From these
sessions, 12 District branches of the SCWG were formed, strengthening
the
regional network that had been in existence since 2002.
This fulfilled a key priority of both NPWJ
and the SCWG, prompting steps to further develop a nationwide outreach
program.
To consolidate these
steps forward, in July 2003 NPWJ
conducted an intensive nationwide round of consultations with the
District SCWG
Executives, as a result of which it was decided to hold conferences for
the
District SCWGs themed “Outreach Strategies on the Special Court – the
Role of
District Working Groups”. In August
2003, as a result of these consultations, NPWJ conducted three
“regional”
conferences of the SCWG, one held on 18-19 August 2003 in Makeni for
the
Northern region; one held on 21‑22 August in Bo for the Southern
and
Eastern regions; and one held in Freetown on 28 August 2003. Each
conference, coordinated and chaired by
the relevant Regional Coordinator from the National Executive of the
SCWG, was
attended by approximately 60 delegates from the District Working Groups
and
invited observers including traditional rulers, religious heads,
members of
security forces and civil society organisations. These
conferences were opportunities to exchange ideas about
methods and messages for dissemination by members of the District SCWGs
as well
as ideas for institution building and fund raising.
In addition, NPWJ was able to present ideas for special outreach
methods and messages to reach the youth audience, who had been
identified as a
specific target group. Delegates
divided into four working groups, which each reported on the second day
of the
conference to the Plenary, who adopted recommendations on how they
would
conduct outreach on the Special Court in the coming months.
Following these
successful conferences, NPWJ embarked
on a round of training seminars in August to October 2003 in
cooperation with
the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
These seminars were aimed at specific target groups, including
women,
police, military, youth, teachers, victims and ex-combatants.
These seminars, which lasted for one day,
were held in locations across Sierra Leone and were designed to ensure
that
these target groups had information about the Special Court that was
relevant
to them and addressed their specific concerns.
In addition, one of our purposes for conducting this training in
cooperation with the Special Court was to hand over full responsibility
for outreach
to the Special Court in a way in which we could pass on the knowledge
and
experiences we had gained conducting outreach on the Special Court
since
February 2001. In total, we held 80
seminars in all the District headquarter towns and in Freetown, which
were
attended by approximately 2.000 people.
As noted in the section
on the Judicial Assistance
Program, the Outreach Program participated in running a workshop on 21
August
2003 for the Government Task Force on the Special Court, at which the
Outreach
Program gave an overview on the mandate, structure and operations of
the
Special Court (see earlier).
NPWJ also co-organised a
workshop on the
International Criminal Court and its implementation in Sierra Leone law
with
the NGO Coalition for an International Criminal Court, the National
Forum for
Human Rights, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the
International
Centre for Transitional Justice. The
workshop was attended by over 50 civil society organisations,
representatives
of Government and members of Parliament.
The workshop concluded with the decision to create a Sierra
Leonean NGO
Coalition on the International Criminal Court to work on the effective
implementation of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal
Court. As a follow up to this, NPWJ conducted a
half-day workshop for Parliamentarians on the International Criminal
Court,
which had been requested by the Parliamentarians for Global Action –
Sierra
Leone. Over 50 Parliamentarians,
including the Minority Leader and all members of the Committee for
Human
Rights, attended the workshop, which provided a good opportunity for
informed
and thoughtful debate on issues related to the International Criminal
Court,
including mobilising support for domestic implementation of the Rome
Statute,
and international justice issues in general.
Special, personalised
certificates were produced for
every participant at our training workshops, with the exception of the
workshops on the International Criminal Court and for the Government
Task
Force.
3.d)
The Right Players
As mentioned, from the
training session for
performing artists grew a 30-person troupe that became known as the
Right
Players. They had developed a play based on the training session we had
given
them and were eager to perform it in public. NPWJ worked with them to
refine
the content, in addition to conceptualising and organsing with the
Right
Players a series of tours for their play. Using our good relationships
with the
Market Women’s Association of Sierra Leone, we arranged for the play to
be
performed in Freetown’s markets. guarantee the accuracy of the
information that
they would provide. Prior to the tours, NPWJ produced over 10.000
flyers
advertising the upcoming tours, which were distributed in the markets
they were
planning to visit and the surrounding communities in the days before
the
performance. This was done by the Right
Players themselves, who advertised their presence using a clown and a
megaphone, which attracted a lot of attention and bolstered attendance
and audience
participation during the performance.
In addition, NPWJ sent copies of the flyer to all our major
partners in
Freetown, including the Delegation of the EC.
Overall, the Right
Players performed in 16 markets
across the Freetown area, from Kissy in the East to Goderich in the
West.
Around 6.000 market women and children attended the performances and
senior
members of the market community participated without exception in
detailed
question and answer sessions with SCWG members following each
performance. The play performed was as
follows:
--------------------
The Special Court Has Come, performed
by The
Right Players
This brief play,
concerning the arrival of the
Special Court for Sierra Leone, has four scenes: ghetto, exodus,
impunity and
accountability. Scene One shows numerous youths talking about the
hardship of
life in Sierra Leone, corruption, the use of drugs and other aspects of
life in
the ghetto. An eloquent yet disgruntled student politician, freshly
returned
from abroad, persuades them that a revolution is the only way to solve
these
problems. Scene 2 shows these same youths trained as soldiers, followed
by the
population’s exodus from their homes. Scene three is a dialogue between
a
former war faction commander and one of his victims. The commander
explains
that he has got away with the crimes that he has committed, and that
there is
nothing anyone can do to stop him committing them again. The final
scene is set
in a village. The Special Court Working Group is holding a question and
answer
session on the Special Court. Traditional leaders are asking questions
about
the nature and jurisdiction of the Special Court. The play ends.
--------------------
The Right Players also
performed at the Government
reception for the familiarisation visit of the judges in December 2002.
As part
of this performance, NPWJ produced 200 A5-sized librettos, which
consisted of a
brief introduction to the Right Players, a short synopsis of the play
they were
performing and the words to some of their songs, in both Krio and
English.
Following this, the Right
Players continued to work
on their plays and also worked with the Sierra Leone Police, informing
villages
across the Western Area of an initiative of the SLP called Operation
Blue
Wave. In addition, in collaboration
with Talking Drum Studios, NPWJ worked with the Right Players to
produce a
series of 10 brief radio slots (“spot messages”) for frequent airing in
between
shows on the syndicated and very prominent Talking Drum Studios radio
network.
We arranged two workshops for the Right Players and senior content and
production professionals at the Talking Drum Studios. The quality of
the
content and of the recordings themselves was excellent. While we had
hoped to
use some of the Right Players in the up country training sessions, both
to
illustrate particular points and to stimulate interest in training
local
performing arts groups participating in an ongoing outreach program,
this
proved to be logistically impossible.
3.e)
Support for the SCWG
Wherever possible, as
noted, NPWJ conducted outreach
activities in cooperation with the SCWG.
In addition, NPWJ continued its intensive support for the work
of the
Special Court Working Group (SCWG), including through the provision of
office
space, which was to double as their Resource Centre, together with
assistance
in office running and communications costs.
As part of the capacity building aspect of the Outreach program,
NPWJ
worked with the SCWG to produce a system of substantive and financial
accountability within the coalition, including the development of
guidelines
for communications within its Executive and with its members. For
various reasons, this was slow to take
off but by the conclusion of the project in Sierra Leone, the SCWG had
developed to the point where internal accountability, including
financial
accountability, was becoming standard operating procedure.
In addition, NPWJ
supported two Annual General
Meetings of the SCWG, one held in October 2002 and one held in August
2003. The first meeting was an
opportunity to rekindle interest of members of the SCWG, comprised of
local NGOs,
in the coalition and to discuss a number of items that were of concern
at that
time. For example, we discussed NPWJ’s
plans for outreach activities, including the involvement of the SCWG in
planning and implementing those activities, and the issue of whether
the SCWG
should change its name, which had been requested by the Special
Court. At that time, the SCWG decided to retain its
name, following discussion and debate on the issues involved. The
second AGM was the occasion on which the
SCWG held constitutionally-mandated elections for all executive
positions,
including for the regional coordinators, and discussed plans for the
future,
particularly in light of the impending departure of NPWJ.
Selected segments of the second AGM and
interviews with the executive of the SCWG were broadcast on public
radio and
reported in the local newspapers.
3.f)
Other activities
The NPWJ Outreach team
also worked on the visit of
the Management Committee of the Special Court to Sierra Leone in
February 2003,
producing a memorandum entitled “Outreach for the Special Court:
Ensuring
momentum gained is not lost”. The
memorandum explains the differentiation between the public relations of
the OTP
and the need for a more wide-ranging and long-term outreach program.
NPWJ distributed
this memorandum, together with an information pack on outreach
comprised of
NPWJ’s leaflets and other educational material on the Special Court, to
Management Committee members during an informal dinner hosted by NPWJ.
NPWJ attended a number of
meetings of child protection agencies (CPAs), which introduced the
Special
Court to the various agencies working on behalf of children and
discussed how
CPAs could work with the Court so as to contribute to ending impunity
for
crimes committed against children.
During these meetings, an overview of the Special Court was
given to the
representatives of the child protection agencies and discussion took
place on
how best the Court and the agencies could interact, particularly given
that
CPAs have already collected a lot of information that could be useful
to the
Court, and that the Court will be looking for cases that are the most
representative of what children have suffered.
At these meetings, NPWJ distributed copies of International
Criminal
Justice and Children – an NPWJ publication undertaken in
cooperation with
UNICEF – to the representatives of the child protection agencies.
We subsequently distributed over 100 copies
of this book to interested NGOs throughout Sierra Leone, including to
the
Special Court for Sierra Leone and to public libraries.
NPWJ attended meetings of
the Human Rights Committee, held at UNAMSIL and consisting of local and
foreign
NGOs interested in human rights issues, during which we have met with a
number
of local and foreign NGOs now working on the issue of the Special
Court. This
enabled us to build up a large contact base, including potential
partners for
the implementation of outreach activities, and increase our visibility
within
civil society. This is evidenced by our
participation in sensitisation trips to the provinces, notably in Port
Loko and
Kambia, to participate in public meetings organised by UNAMSIL-Port
Loko. Two NPWJ staff members took part in
these
public meetings, one in each town, which consisted of explaining what
the
Special Court is and how it is working together with answering
questions from
the audience. The Registrar of the Special Court, Robin Vincent, also
attended
the public meeting in Kambia. UNAMSIL
Radio both broadcast and taped both sessions, of which we now have a
copy in
the archives at our office in Freetown.
NPWJ used the opportunity to meet with local organisations and
undertake
some preparatory work for setting up regional offices of the SCWG in
the provinces.
NPWJ also participated in various
workshops organised by civil society in Freetown, including a workshop
on
strengthening coalitions organised by the National Forum for Human
Rights and
the International Human Rights Law Group and a workshop hosted by the
National
Collaborative Peace Building Network (WANEP), in which discussions were
held on
networking of peace building and human rights organisations. NPWJ
also participated in a workshop on peer
mediation organised by Green Scenery, a workshop presented by the
Special
Court, a panel discussion on the Special Court organised by the
National Union
of Students, the UNAMSIL Human Rights Committee meetings and the
Jubilee
Lecture by Kevin Metzger of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England
and
Wales, which was organised by the British Council.
NPWJ also attended the opening ceremony of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and has been regularly, if infrequently,
attending
the public hearings of that body.
As a result of these
undertakings, NPWJ solidified our relationship with a number of other
local and
foreign organisations, including Search for Common Ground’s “Talking
Drum
Studio”, UNAMSIL, Amnesty International – Sierra Leone, the Women’s
Task force
on the Special Court and the TRC and others.
NPWJ also spearheaded the movement within the Human Rights
Committee
against the signature and, subsequently, against the ratification of
the
Article 98 Agreement. NPWJ provided
assistance to the Human Rights Committee in organising press releases
and
public information about this issue, as well as leading the
demonstration
outside Parliament against the ratification of the agreement, which
received
considerable press attention in Freetown and elsewhere.
While this campaign was unsuccessful in preventing
the ratification of the agreement, NPWJ has continued to work with
civil
society to develop methods for limiting the impact of the agreement
and,
ultimately, on convincing the Government to utilise the termination
clause in
the agreement when the time is right.
NPWJ hosted a celebration
for World Justice Day 2003,
which took place on 17 July 2003, the 5th anniversary of the
adoption of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal
Court. Prior to the event, NPWJ held a press
briefing to inform members of the print and electronic media about the
ICC and
surrounding issues, which was followed by a panel discussion broadcast
on
national television on issues related to the International Criminal
Court. The World Justice Day reception
itself consisted
of an evening reception in the International Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law
Library, with addresses on the importance of international criminal
justice in
the Sierra Leone context by the Registrar of the Special Court, the
Chair of
the Human Rights Committee in the Sierra Leone Parliament, a
representative of
the Ministry of Justice and by NPWJ’s Senior Outreach Associate.
NPWJ also used this opportunity to
disseminate materials on the International Criminal Court and on the
Special
Court for Sierra Leone, as well as to promote knowledge about NPWJ’s
activities
in Sierra Leone and worldwide.
3.g)
Publications/materials
* Training the Trainers
manual
Around
1000 copies of the NPWJ “Training the Trainers” manual were produced in
house,
updated periodically to take into account developments relating to the
Special
Court and to international justice in general.
The manual consisted of a detailed explanation of all aspects of
the
Special Court and was designed to act as a template for trainers to
refer to
during the training seminars, in order to ensure the information they
were
giving was correct and that they were providing to participants
complete and
relevant information on the Special Court.
This manual also formed the basis for the training manual
produced by
the Special Court for Sierra Leone for their trainers, which NPWJ
contributed
to extensively.
These
manuals were distributed during the training sessions organised by NPWJ
and the
SCWG, both to the trainers themselves (who had copies prior to the
training)
and to interested individuals who were participants during the
training. They were also given to representatives of
District SCWGs and other NGOs for use in the provinces to ensure
adequate
access to relevant materials were available at offices of the SCWG
across the
country. Throughout the duration of the project, copies of these
leaflets were
freely available in the NPWJ library and at the offices of the SCWG.
* Fact sheets on the
Special Court
(single sheet and leaflets)
These
leaflets consisted of simplified information about the Special Court
for Sierra
Leone and covered all aspects of the Court, including its background,
jurisdiction, practical information and its operations.
A separate leaflet was produced on the
Special Court Ratification Act, to explain its purpose, scope and how
it
operated in practice. Over 100,000 of
these leaflets were produced during the course of the project.
These
fact sheets were distributed at the market tours, in training seminars
and at
special events hosted by NPWJ, including the public lectures and the
informal
dinner with the Management Committee of the Special Court in February
2003. In addition, many copies of the
leaflet were given to representatives of District SCWGs and other NGOs
for use
in the provinces to ensure adequate access to relevant materials were
available
at offices of the SCWG across the country.
Throughout the duration of the project, copies of these leaflets
were
freely available in the NPWJ library and at the offices of the SCWG.
* Special
Court Times
The
Special Court Times was a broadsheet-sized newsletter on issues related
to the
Special Court and international justice in general, consisting of
articles on
different aspects of these issues, together with an update from the
Special
Court Working Group (SCWG). During the
time of the project, we produced three issues of the Special Court
Times, each
print run consisting of 5.000 copies.
The
Special Court Times was distributed in a number of ways, designed to
facilitate
as wide distribution to as diverse a group of people as possible.
When we received the final printed
publication, we set aside a number of copies for the SCWGs in Freetown
and in
the Districts, to ensure country-wide distribution and access. In
addition, we kept some for NPWJ in
Freetown to distribute at various events, including at World Justice
Day. We also ensured there were copies
available
for our local partners, including the Ministry of Justice, the Sierra
Leone Bar
Association, local NGOs and others. The
bulk of distribution, however, was carried out in cooperation with
local
newspaper vendors, who handed out free copies as part of the bundle of
Freetown
newspapers purchased by people on a daily basis. This
enabled us to ensure the messages contained in the Special
Court Times were being made available to the general newspaper-reading
population.
* Pocket edition of the
Special Court Times
This
publication was intended to mirror similar size school textbooks and
popular
publications and was produced in A5 format, such that it fit easily
into
people’s pockets. The publication
contained a revised “Frequently Asked Questions” article and a “Key
Dates”
section. The initial run consisted of approximately 1.000 copies and a
second
run was done for the training seminars in March 2003, consisting again
of
approximately 1.000 copies.
The
pocket edition was initially produced for distribution by the Right
Players
during their market tours in December 2002 and January 2003.
Copies were handed out to the audience,
consisting primarily but not solely of market women and people doing
their
shopping. What feedback we did receive
about this publication was primarily anecdotal, but overwhelmingly
positive, as
a result of which we began producing more copies which we distributed
at
training sessions organised by NPWJ and the SCWG.
* Materials booklets on
the Special Court
Around
1000 copies of a materials booklet containing the Agreement, Statute
and Act
were produced in house. In addition,
around 500 copies of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence were also
produced in
house. These were printed to ensure
that participants at training seminars had access to copies of the
relevant
instruments discussed during the workshops.
Both publications contained a brief explanatory note both of the
substance of the publication, and our intent in publishing it.
These
booklets were distributed during the training sessions organised by
NPWJ and
the SCWG. They were also given to
representatives of District SCWGs and other NGOs for use in the
provinces to
ensure adequate access to relevant materials were available at offices
of the
SCWG across the country. From the
time of first publication, copies were made freely available in the
NPWJ
library, and in the offices of the SCWG in Freetown.
* Materials booklet on
the ICC
Around 200 copies of a
materials booklet on the
International Criminal Court were produced in house, consisting of the
Statute
for the ICC, a short paper on domestic implementation of international
law in
Sierra Leone produced by an NPWJ legal expert, simplified information
about the
ICC and other relevant materials. In
addition, around 750 copies of the Rome Statute of the ICC were
produced,
initially distribution at the NPWJ public lecture delivered in Freetown
by the
Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC.
These
booklets were distributed during the training sessions on the ICC
organised by
NPWJ and others. They were also given
to representatives of District SCWGs and other NGOs for use in the
provinces to
ensure adequate access to relevant materials were available at offices
of the
SCWG across the country. The copies of
the Rome Statute were distributed to everyone attending the public
lecture
delivered in Freetown by the Chief of Staff of the Office of the
Prosecutor of
the ICC. Additional copies were distributed to District branches of the
SCWG
and were made freely available at the offices of the SCWG in Freetown.
* Briefing packs
NPWJ
produced two briefing packs, one for the Office of the Attorney-General
and
Minister of Justice to distribute to the newly-appointed Judges of the
Special
Court in December 2002 and one for the visit of the Management
Committee in
February 2003. The first set of
briefing papers, consisting of the Statute and Agreement for the
Special Court,
together with the Special Court Ratification Act 2002 and a message of
welcome
from the Attorney-General, was limited to 12 copies.
The second set of briefing papers, of which we produced around
50
copies, consisted of information about NPWJ programs in Sierra Leone,
together
with memoranda produced specifically for the occasion on different
matters of
interest to the Management Committee, primarily on the nature and
concepts of
outreach and conflict mapping.
The
first set of briefing packs, for the Office of the Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice, was distributed to the Judges of the Special Court
on
their arrival in Sierra Leone (with the exception of Judge Gelaga-King,
who was
already in country). The second set of
briefing packs was distributed to the members of the Management
Committee for
the Special Court during an informal dinner with NPWJ in February 2003
and
additional copies were made available for other interested parties,
including
the SCWG and other NGOs.
* Assistance
on other publications
NPWJ
provided extensive comments on the ICTJ/NFHR/Human Rights Clinic
“Citizens
Manual on the TRC and the Special Court” and attended a workshop to
discuss the
contents of the manual. While many of
our suggestions were not taken on board, and the resulting manual
contains a
number of errors that would have been easy to correct and some
structural
problems that would not, our participation in the consultation process
of the
manual helped to curb some of the more obvious mistakes that had been
contained
in previous drafts. This publication
proved to be a big success and has been distributed widely throughout
Sierra
Leone. NPWJ’s contribution is
acknowledged in the forward to the publication.
In
addition, we worked closely with the outreach section of the Special
Court for
Sierra Leone on the production of a simplified booklet on the Special
Court
entitled “Wetin Na Di Speshal Kot: The Special Court Made
Simple”. This booklet is comprised of information
about the Court, explained in simple language, together with
illustrations by a
local artist. NPWJ personnel provided
extensive substantive and technical support in the drafting,
preparation and
publication of this booklet, which was officially launched on Friday,
14 November,
when it was distributed to students representing 50 secondary and
primary
schools. The support provided by NPWJ
was acknowledged at the launch, which was attended by former Sierra
Leonean
NPWJ outreach personnel. NPWJ’s
contribution is also acknowledged in the “acknowledgments” section and
is the
only NGO thus mentioned, the remainder of acknowledgments being for
other
sections within the Special Court itself.
3.h)
Problems and solutions
The
main difficulty we faced in working with the Right Players centred on
monetary
and organisational issues. They lacked someone who could put together a
good
plan and, while we were able to provide initial logistical support for
them -
in particular when we were implementing programs together such as the
market
tours - they had difficulties organising their own logistics and in
finding a
third party to provide support. We
attempted to overcome this by putting them in touch with people who
would be
able to provide this type of financial assistance and produced 1.000
copies of
Right Players letterhead for them, including a digital version of that
letterhead, so they could produce their own in the future.
In
terms of the SCWG, the major difficulty we encountered was
logistical. Due to our long absence from Sierra Leone
and our inability to provide them with financial resources during that
time, it
was at times difficult to re-establish the relationship.
Indeed, the
large lapse in time
between the end of our project, which had not been funded by the EC, in
September 2001 and when we recommenced full operations in September
2002 had a
number of consequences, in particular on our local partners. The
SCWG was founded early in 2001 and was
in a position to begin implementing outreach activities from July
2001. However, our inability to sustain support
for this organisation meant that there was a 12-month period during
which the
SCWG lacked the resources to capitalise on the momentum built in 2001,
with
consequent adverse implications on commitment and morale; in many ways,
we had
to start from the beginning in 2002, particularly in terms of strategic
planning and institution building. In addition, the SCWG had the
idea that NPWJ
was somehow acting as an “intermediary” for funding and, rather than us
working
together to implement outreach activities, thought that we would be
giving them
the money that we had received for them to implement their own outreach
activities independently. We attempted
to overcome this by explaining the nature of our funding and this
project and
by encouraging them to work with us on activities, which was eventually
successful, as evidenced by the large number of activities we
implemented
together with the SCWG, in particular the training sessions held in the
provinces.
Another
difficulty we encountered was resource restraints for the SCWG Resource
Centre. Initially, we had hoped that
there would be duplicate copies among the material received for the
International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Library, which did not
turn out
to be the case. While we were unable to
provide sufficient materials to make the SCWG office a
fully-functioning
Resource Centre, we attempted to mitigate this by giving the SCWG
materials
produced by NPWJ, including all the publications outlined above as well
as
copies of International Criminal Justice and Children, which we had
produced
during 2002 in cooperation with UNICEF.
4.
Legal
Profession Program
The Legal Profession
program promoted knowledge of
human rights and humanitarian law norms within the legal profession in
Sierra
Leone. A robust legal profession with
knowledge about human rights will lead to a profession capable of
defending
human rights through various means, including legal means.
This in turn strengthens the rule of law by
enabling the Sierra Leone legal profession to ensure they have the
knowledge
required to work effectively with and within Sierra Leone’s
accountability
mechanisms.
The activities undertaken
within the Legal Profession
program included training seminars, roundtable discussions, the
production of
explanatory and critical documents and participation in the activities
of
partner organisations. It also included
access to relevant library resources, which has been facilitated
through the
establishment of the NPWJ International Human Rights and Humanitarian
Law
Library in Freetown. The program also encouraged the Special Court to
involve
itself in the legal community so that the Court may make a sustainable
contribution to the rule of law in Sierra Leone.
4.a)
Discussion
Seminars
* Seminar on the
Rules of Procedure and Evidence
of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
In October 2002, NPWJ
began discussions with the
Special Court Registry and the Sierra Leone Bar Association regarding a
seminar
for the members of the Sierra Leone legal community and the Special
Court Judges
on the Court’s Draft Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
Throughout October and
November of 2002, planning
meetings regarding the seminar were held with the Special Court and the
Bar
Association. Training on the draft
Rules and on related issues was conducted for members of the Sierra
Leone Bar
interested in leading the discussions at the seminar.
In December 2002, during
the familiarisation visit of
the Judges of the Special Court, a half-day seminar was held on the
Draft
Rules. The two main results of the
seminar – aside from the substantive comments on the Rules – were that
the
legal profession became substantively involved in the set-up of the
Court and
the Judges realised that the Sierra Leone legal profession could make a
serious
contribution to the operations of the Court.
* Seminar on the
Structure of the Defence at the
Special Court
In February 2003, NPWJ
invited Sylvia de Bertodano,
an expert in international criminal law with experience as defence
counsel
before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
and the
Special Crimes Panel in East Timor, to Sierra Leone to discuss plans
for the
structure of the Defence with several interested parties.
As a result, several successful meetings were
held with, among others, Special Court staff, members of the Special
Court
Management Committee, the Sierra Leone Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice
and members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association.
Based on lessons learned
from these meetings, NPWJ,
in cooperation with the Special Court Registrar and the Sierra Leone
Bar
Association, coordinated and participated in a discussion on the
structure of
the Defence at a meeting of the Bar. As
a consequence, the Bar was able to provide comments directly to the
Registrar
on plans for the Defence in advance of his meetings in March 2003 with
the
Special Court Judges.
4.b)
Training Seminars
* Seminar
for Defence
Duty Counsel at the Special Court for Sierra Leone
In February 2003, in
cooperation with the Special
Court Registry, NPWJ organised a training seminar for defence duty
counsel at
the Court. NPWJ, with the assistance of
Ms de Bertodano, assembled basic, written training materials for the
duty
counsel and held an informal discussion seminar with them at the
Special Court
regarding their roles and responsibilities.
* Seminar on the
Initial Responsibilities of
Special Court Defence Counsel
In April 2003, Stuart
Alford, an expert in
international criminal law with substantial experience as a defence
counsel in
England and a prosecution counsel at the Special Crimes Panel in East
Timor,
was invited to Sierra Leone to conduct further training on the initial
responsibilities of defence counsel at the Special Court.
Mr Alford spoke to members of the Special
Court about the current state of play and undertook a day trip to
Bonthe Island
to observe conditions at the temporary Special Court detention facility
and
courtroom, which was useful for the preparation and implementation of
the
seminar. The Sierra Leone Bar
Association and NPWJ co-sponsored two lecture and discussion sessions
and NPWJ
assembled further training materials, which were distributed at the
sessions. Both sessions included not
only interested members of the Sierra Leone Bar but also members of the
Special
Court Defence Office and the Office of the Prosecutor.
* International
Humanitarian Law Training Seminar
In early 2003, NPWJ and
the Bar Human Rights
Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) began discussing cooperation on
an
intensive seminar on international humanitarian law for the legal
profession in
Sierra Leone. Throughout May and June,
NPWJ and BHRC held planning discussions with the Sierra Leone Bar
Association
and the Special Court for Sierra Leone and in early July, the BHRC and
NPWJ
concluded a memorandum of understanding to cover financial and other
aspects of
this cooperation.
In late July, NPWJ-SL and
the BHRC conducted a
five-day training seminar on international humanitarian law for
interested
members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association and legal staff of the
Special
Court for Sierra Leone. The training
seminar, which took place at the Special Court for Sierra Leone,
combined
morning lectures and afternoon workshops.
Each of these sessions was led by one or more members of a team
of
experts in Sierra Leone law and international humanitarian law, many of
whom
have practiced at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Prior to the seminar,
extensive written materials
were prepared and distributed to the approximately fifty
participants. These materials included not only the basic
documents of the Special Court but also an indictment, witness
statements and
proofs of evidence for a hypothetical prosecution that was discussed in
the
workshops.
4.c)
NPWJ International
Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law Library
In September 2002, NPWJ
began the process of
establishing an international human rights and humanitarian law library
as a
resource for increasing the awareness of human rights and humanitarian
law
norms among members of Sierra Leone’s civil society so that they might
become
more involved in and monitor the proceedings of the Special Court and
Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
From September through
November, efforts toward the
establishment of the NPWJ International Human Rights and Humanitarian
Law
Library focused on securing the delivery of approximately 70 boxes of
books and
other materials from their collection point in New York, which was
generously
provided by the Sierra Leone Mission to the United Nations. NPWJ
had collected these materials over the
preceding months in anticipation of using them to create a library in
Sierra
Leone.
During this period,
advertisements were placed for a
librarian, applications were reviewed and candidates were
interviewed. Bookshelves, tables and computer
workstations also were constructed in anticipation of the arrival of
the print
resources.
In December 2002, the
boxes of books were delivered
to the site of the library and a librarian was hired and began working
part
time together with a part time assistant librarian, who was hired to
clean and
organise the print materials.
In January and February
2003, work continued on the
organisation of the library. In
particular, NPWJ focused on the indexing and labelling of books and on
the creation
of a digital catalogue. Regular
subscriptions for the delivery of periodicals and newspapers were
arranged,
additional print materials were solicited and obtained, library
procedures were
developed and discussed, a digital library was created and Internet
access was
provided. During this period, the
library began to welcome users on a test basis, and training was
conducted for
the librarian on the Special Court, international humanitarian law in
general
and the work of NPWJ.
In March, the library
officially opened to the public
and activities began to include promotion of the library and its
services. NPWJ created and distributed
posters and
handbills advertising the library to the legal profession, including
the
Ministry of Justice, civil society organisations, schools, the
University and
other libraries in Freetown. A
reception also was held to celebrate the establishment of the
library. Attendees included the Deputy Prosecutor of
the Special Court, who officially opened the library, and the Executive
Secretary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
At the same time, organisation of the library continued and the
digital library was expanded.
From April through July
2003, the library’s
operations included continued promotion of the library, maintenance and
organisation of the collection and development of user services.
To promote the library, NPWJ sent letters to
local schools inviting them to visit the library and use its
resources. Special introductory lunches were also
organised for the staff of the Special Court for Sierra Leone,
including the
Special Court Judges, Registrar and defence and prosecution
counsel. The library also became a setting for
special events, such as the reception for World Justice Day.
As part of the continuing
maintenance and
organisation of the collection, NPWJ completed the digital catalogue
and the
library acquired additional print and digital materials from private
and
institutional donors. These materials
included print and digital copies of the non-confidential documents
filed in
each of the cases before the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
To develop user services,
NPWJ created library cards
and distributed them to users. Research
services also were provided, including specialised assistance to the
Special
Court and Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In addition, a system for the collection of data on the needs of
users
and the patterns of library use was implemented.
By August 2003, the
library was stocked with over
3.000 print volumes and a wealth of digital resources.
Moreover, hundreds of members of the
community – including lawyers, human rights activists and students –
had made
use of the library.
4.d)
Publications
* Report on
the Special
Court Rules of
Procedure and Evidence Seminar
Following
the Seminar on the Special Court Rules of Procedure and Evidence,
NPWJ-SL and
the Sierra Leone Bar Association agreed to cooperate on the production
of a
seminar report. In January and February
of 2003, meetings were held with the seminar discussion leaders and
written
comments on the Draft Rules were compiled and edited, with publication
of the
report taking place in February 2003.
Around 200 copies of this report were published in hard copy.
The
Report on the Rules of Procedure and Evidence Seminar was published and
distributed by hand to the members of the Sierra Leone legal community
and the
staff of the Special Court.
Importantly, copies were delivered to the Judges of the Special
Court as
part of their official preparatory materials for their plenary meetings
in
March of 2003 at which the Rules were reviewed and adopted. The
Report also was made available on the
NPWJ-SL website.
* Report
on the Structure
of the
Defence at the Special Court
Based
on the meetings and discussion seminar in February of 2003, NPWJ
contracted an
independent legal expert to draft a report on the structure of the
Defence at
the Special Court, which was completed in early March.
Around 100 copies of this report were
published in hard copy.
The
Report on the Defence Structure at the Special Court was distributed by
hand to
the Special Court Judges and Registrar in advance of their meetings in
London
on the structure of the Defence. NPWJ
also distributed the report by hand to the Sierra Leone legal community
and
other interested persons. The Report
additionally was made available on the NPWJ-SL website.
* Booklet of Lecture
Notes from the
International Humanitarian Law Seminar
During
the international humanitarian law seminar in July of 2003, several
participants expressed a strong interest in obtaining available notes
from the
lectures. Consequently, NPWJ and the
BHRC agreed to produce a booklet of lecture notes that would serve as
an
immediate resource for counsel who were at the beginning stages of a
case or
were generally interested in the proceedings at the Special
Court. In August, NPWJ compiled the available notes
from the lecturers and edited these materials into a booklet, around
200 of
which were published in early September.
The
booklet was distributed to all of the participants in the seminar, as
well as
members of the Sierra Leone legal community and staff of the Special
Court for
Sierra Leone who were unable to attend.
* Lawyer’s
Guide to the Special Court for Sierra Leone
In early 2003, NPWJ-SL began discussions with members of the Sierra
Leone legal community regarding the Lawyer’s Guide to the Special Court
for Sierra Leone. Based on the outline developed following these
discussions, the Guide is intended to orient a lawyer to the Special
Court’s unique legal basis, jurisdiction, organization and relationship
with States. It then takes a lawyer step-by-step through the
workings of the Special Court, from investigations through appellate
proceedings. Lastly, it reviews practical issues for counsel at
the Special Court.
In May 2003, NPWJ also began soliciting written contributions to the
Guide from the Sierra Leone legal community and international legal
experts. In particular, written contributions were sought from
those who had participated in other activities of the legal profession
program, either as trainers or students. Following an extensive
editing process, 2.000 copies were published to be distributed for
review and comment at the opening of the Courthouse of the Special
Court in March 2004.
4.e)
Problems
and solutions
The
large number of books we had gathered, namely 70 boxes, and shipped to
Sierra
Leone at the start of the project were a higher number than we had
anticipated
and would have taken one person considerable time to catalogue, which
would
have meant that the opening of the library would have been delayed
until towards
the end of the project. We overcame
this logistical problem by hiring a part time librarian in addition to
the full
time librarian and engaged other people to assist in the cataloguing,
sorting
and stacking of the books. As a result
of this, we were able to have the formal opening of the library in
March 2003,
although it was already being used for some weeks before that by
students,
human rights activists and legal professionals.
5.
Conflict Mapping
The Conflict Mapping
program reconstructed the chain
of events during a conflict through gathering information in the field
and
analysing the decision-making processes to ascertain the role of those
who bear
the greatest responsibility for policies of systematic and massive
violations
of the laws of war. This analysis is
based on testimonial and other data overlaid with order of battle and
command
structures of the various forces as they evolved over time and
space. This chronological and geographical mapping
of the conflict, including reconstructing the order of battle and chain
of
command, serves to prevent denial of those events.
An analysis of events according to international law establishes
prima facie accountability for violations of international humanitarian
law. In so doing, it both serves to
strengthen
the rule of law and to promote and defend human rights by publicising
the price
for violating them. In addition,
establishing the chain of command within the armed forces operating in
Sierra
Leone and assembling these disparate pieces of information to create
the bigger
picture of the decade long conflict in Sierra Leone enables the crucial
first
phase of establishing who bears direct and command responsibility for
atrocities committed during the conflict. This will enable the people
of Sierra
Leone to establish who should be held accountable for the atrocities
committed
in Sierra Leone, thereby avoiding the trap of blaming a group or
segment of
society and promoting peaceful conciliation.
The results of this work, together with the work of
organisations in
Sierra Leone undertaking human rights reporting, will support the work
of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court in their
investigation processes.
In the implementation of
the Conflict Mapping
program, NPWJ worked closely with local partner organisations, with
whom we had
built up a relationship over the previous two years. Beginning in 2002,
the
Outreach program increased its geographic spread, which also opened up
new
channels, networks and possibilities for collaboration and consequently
increased the diversity and size of NPWJ’s network of partner
organisations and
individuals. In addition, the Outreach program deepened NPWJ’s
pre-existing
relationships with many key sectors of society. These factors made it
possible
to conceive of a field-based nation wide Conflict Mapping program in
two main
ways. NPWJ’s extensive and trusted network of partners would be
essential in
devising and implementing any system of collecting information.
Following this,
NPWJ’s network of partners embedded in communities through the country
would
also be essential in maximising the possible impact of the
project: in encouraging people to participate in the
project, in promoting the underlying rationales of accountability and
then in
disseminating the results.
The Conflict Mapping
program has therefore involved
as much of the country as possible in conducting sensitisation and
documentation in this manner, by providing victims and witnesses with
the
opportunity to recount their stories and the stories of others in such
a way as
to help them understand their personal and their communities’
experiences in
the context of the war, so as to increase confidence and encourage a
sense of
ownership of the processes by the people of Sierra Leone.
Indeed, the process in itself is as
important as the final report, because the direct involvement of Sierra
Leoneans (both as interviewer and interviewee) in this project allows
them to
be at the heart of the accountability work being carried out in Sierra
Leone.
5.a)
Selecting and training Conflict
Mapping Recorders
The gathering of
information in the field in Sierra
Leone was conducted by experienced national human rights workers or
"Conflict Mapping Recorders" (CMRs), trained and supervised by NPWJ
personnel, in communities and villages throughout the country.
* Selection
of CMRs
While the selection of
the CMRs in the communities
across Sierra Leone was one of the most important parts of the project,
it also
presented one of the greatest challenges from a quality control
perspective. In this process, NPWJ was
heavily reliant on the judgment and expertise of its collaborating
organisations and their representatives, with whom we had built a
relationship
of trust over the previous two years.
As a system of quality control, NPWJ tried to ensure the
collaborating
organisations selected their best people to nominate as CMRs by
discussing with
the organisations the purpose of the project and providing the a
checklist for
indicators that people could make good CMRs.
Following the initial
selection stage by our local
partners, NPWJ held a training workshop at which the final selection
was made
(see below), based on how the CMR responded to the training and their
performance in the practical exercise of taking a record.
By the end of April 2003, the selection
stage was complete and NPWJ had hired a total of 136 CMRs to cover
149 chiefdoms and the Western Area.
Twenty-two CMRs were hired to cover the Western Area, a densely
populated area to which many IDPs fled during the war.
In each District we also appointed a focal
point, who was our main contact and who assisted with logistical and
other
arrangements, including bringing the final records to Freetown for
review
purposes. These CMRs and the focal
points represented a broad cross section of civil society and included
human
rights activists, teachers and others.
* Training of CMRs
NPWJ conducted training
workshops in various
locations in the Western Area and in the 12 headquarter towns
throughout
the country. In order to provide
greater participation and information sharing, as well as due to time
and
logistical constraints, CMRs travelled from their chiefdoms to the
headquarters
town rather than NPWJ personnel travelling to each chiefdom. This also
allowed
the focal point to meet every CMR selected and identify possibly
logistical
obstacles. The training was divided
into three distinct components: the introductory workshop, the training
workshop and the review process.
The first visit, called
an “introductory workshop”,
was dedicated to meeting with community leaders and collaborative
organisations
to introduce the project. This session was the final part of the
“Training the
Trainers” seminar held by the NPWJ Outreach Team and the Special Court
Working
Group. This placed the Conflict Mapping program in the context of the
Special
Court, accountability mechanisms and the difficulties faced in
reconstructing
accurately the events of the conflict in Sierra Leone. The introductory
workshops laid the groundwork for the quality of the CMRs selected,
following
the considerations outlined above, as well as the relevance of the key
persons
identified. One of the main aims of this session was to engage the
participants, so that over the following days they could identify
potential
CMRs for the training workshop and compile a list of potential key
persons for
reviewing at the end of that training workshop. This
stage was completed for the whole country by mid April 2003.
The second visit was the
“training workshop”, a one-day
session composed of sensitisation on the Special Court to ensure that
CMRs
would be well versed in crimes under international law, in particular
those
within the jurisdiction of the Court, to enable them to take all the
relevant
details from their key persons. This
sensitisation was followed by a workshop on the conflict mapping
project
itself, concluding with the selection of conflict mapping recorders to
take
records from key persons. The training
focused on explaining the Conflict Mapping program, how conflict
mapping
differs from human rights reporting, how to take a record, what type of
information to focus on and discussed the fact that these interviews
will be
taxing and draining on both the CMRs and the key persons. The session
culminated in practical exercises in record-taking.
In addition, this stage included training in the crucial first
step of selecting appropriate key people who have a good general
overview of
the conflict in their area. On the
basis of performance during this training session, including perceived
understanding of the process and principles and the quality of the
practice
record, NPWJ selected a limited number of individuals to work as
CMRs. NPWJ conducted 14 such workshops across the
whole country, generally on four- to five-day trips and mostly from the
end of
March to the end of April. This stage
was completed for the whole country in the first week of May 2003, at
which
time we had trained over 300 people in the workshops outlined
above and
hired 136 people as CMRs.
The third stage consisted
of reviewing the first
records collected by the CMRs for content and organisation before the
final two
records were taken from key people selected by the conflict mapping
recorders
in consultation with NPWJ. This stage was essential to provide top up
training
(if necessary), to address problems the CMRs may have encountered, to
ensure
the quality of the records taken and to ensure that CMRs did not feel
abandoned. The fact that this process
took place after the collection of each CMR’s first record and before
the
collection of subsequent records enabled NPWJ to implement a thorough
system of
quality control on an ongoing basis.
NPWJ conducted these workshops in 13 locations throughout the
country,
on trips lasting an average of four days per location, with the final
stage for
CMRs in Freetown being conducted at the NPWJ office.
By the end of May, the
reviewing process of the first
records was finished and progressively in June, focal points came to
Freetown
to hand over the records they collected from the CMRs. While they were
in our
office, we reviewed briefly the records with the focal points and when
we were
not satisfied with the work of a CMR, we issued a letter the focal
point would
give to the CMR requesting them to complete their work.
By the beginning of July, all the records
were received and the CMRs were all paid.
The last visit to the
Provinces was also an occasion
to explain to the CMRs in more detail what would follow with the
information
they had gathered, including how we would process it and use it to
publish a
report. We anticipate that the network built up during the
information‑gathering
phase, as well as the District network of the SCWG, will be of great
use to
disseminate the public report through the Districts.
This stage was completed for the whole country in June 2003.
Thus each location was
visited at least three times
by NPWJ according to a schedule worked out in advance with local
partners, in
particular the SCWG and the NPWJ Outreach team.
The structure of the
training was developed by NPWJ
in consultation with local partners during October and November 2002
and was
reviewed on an ongoing basis to incorporate lessons learnt during the
training
process. The first round of training
commenced in December 2002 in Freetown, followed by further meetings
and the
training of conflict mapping recorders in the rural Western Area, near
Freetown. Although this ran the risk of
appearing we had a “Freetown bias”, we selected the Western Area as the
first
point of entry to enable NPWJ to perfect the conflict mapping training
before
taking it into the provinces, as logistically it is more difficult to
perfect
such processes in the provinces.
Lessons learned from the training in the Western Area were
incorporated
into the planning process for the provincial training and in late March
2003,
following preparatory work undertaken in consultation with the SCWG and
the
NPWJ Outreach program, conflict mapping training began in the
provinces.
In consideration of the
time frame and the impending
rainy season, which starts in May and during which many roads become
impassable, NPWJ hired a Sierra Leonean team comprised of the best CMRs
from
the Western Area to undertake the training workshops and the collection
of first
records in some parts of the country.
This enabled us to have two conflict mapping training teams
working
simultaneously in different locations around the country, allowing full
coverage of the whole country by the conclusion of the time frame for
the gathering
of records.
5.b)
Key people
The Conflict Mapping
program was primarily based on
the scrupulous selection and debriefing of selected individuals (“key
persons”)
whose profession, role in their community or in the forces involved in
the
conflict, placed them in a position to follow events as they unfolded.
To facilitate proper
identification and selection of
key people, CMRs were provided with guidelines for characteristics of
people
who would likely be best suited to being a key person, together with a
list of
persons who may make good key people, such as teachers, lawyers, youth
leaders,
women’s movement leaders and others. In addition, to facilitate and
monitor the
quality of the records and the key persons selected for interviews, the
CMRs
were asked to provide a report prior to conducting an interview, in
order to
maintain the focus of the process and the standard of the key persons
selected.
Each CMR was to select
three key persons in their
chiefdom from whom to take a record, based on the time necessary to
take a
record and the time frame within which the record-taking phase had to
be
completed. Nevertheless, the main
emphasis was on quality and not quantity when identifying key persons
to be
interviewed. It was therefore the case that fewer key persons were
selected for
interviewing in some chiefdoms where the scale of the conflict was
minimal or
where there is a smaller population.
Following these criteria,
the Conflict Mapping
Program gathered records from 401 key persons across the country, who
ranged in
age between 19 and 82. Of these, 6.7%
were former members of one of the fighting factions; 6.7% were women;
and 10.7%
had been captured by one or more of the fighting factions and used
either as forced
labour or were recruited into a fighting faction.
The most common occupation of key people was a farmer, most of
whom had occupied some position of authority during the conflict (such
as town
or section chief) and many of whom were members of a fighting faction,
most
commonly the Civil Defence Forces.
Other occupations included Paramount Chiefs, Town Chiefs and
other
chiefdom authorities, teachers, fishermen, housewives and retired
military
personnel and civil servants.
5.c)
Database
The information gathered
by CMRs from key people
comprised over 400 records, each containing an average of 30 pages,
with a
total of approximately 5.500 separate incidents, i.e. instances of an
alleged
violation of international humanitarian law or key strategic or other
information. Given the amount and breadth
of information, it had to be collated and stored in such a way as to
enable
easy search and retrieval in order for it to be used by analysts.
Throughout the year, the conflict mapping
team was in contact with Sensible Data, an Italian IT company with
expertise in
this area, concerning the design of the database that was to be used
for the
conflict mapping analysis. This database was finalised in July and
operational
for August, when the inputting process began.
Prior to the completion
of the design and programming
of the database, the records went through a three-stage process:
- Reviewing by a team of
four people.
The objective of this review was to make basic corrections to the
grammar and
the orthography of the handwritten records. It was emphasised that that
corrections should be minimal so as not to reinterpret or give a
different
sense to the words used by the key person. This reviewing was also
carried out
to correct major errors, e.g. when a well known event was indicated at
the
wrong date and to pinpoint and redress major incoherence in the
records.
- Typing
the records in their entirety into digital format.
- Rigorous
proof-reading of the typed
copy against the original (handwritten), which was also carried out by
the team
of reviewers.
These documents then
formed the basis of the data
entry process and were used extensively during the analysis
phase. The data entry process was carried out in
Freetown throughout August, by two teams working on shifts, six days a
week.
Each team was composed of international and national data entry
operators
(between four to six persons in each team). For the recruiting of the
national
data entry operators, we sought advice and assistance from the Campaign
for
Good Governance, a long term partner of NPWJ, and from other
individuals with
whom NPWJ was connected, whose anchorage in civil society and
far-reaching and
high quality networks enabled them to recommend people, who were then
provided
with training in the operation of the database and in data entry
protocols and
procedures.
For data entry purposes,
each record was broken into
incidents, which consist of discrete parts of information, usually
chronological, containing examples of serious violations of
international
humanitarian law or other relevant information. Each
incident was classified according to what crimes were
allegedly committed, who allegedly committed them, what weapons they
allegedly
used and other pertinent information.
To ensure accuracy and consistency in the classification of
incidents,
NPWJ personnel provided training to data entry operators in the basics
of
international criminal law and produced a manual outlining how
different
factual scenarios should be classified.
To ensure accuracy of the database as a whole and enhance its
effectiveness
for analysis purposes, each entry went through a thorough process of
checking
and crosschecking to ensure that it was consistent, complete and
correct.
5.d)
District level analysis
The information was
entered on a district level and
as the inputting was progressing, we were able to start an initial
analysis of
the facts, drawing broad brushstrokes about what had happened in each
District,
which was used to focus further, more detailed analysis. It was of the
utmost
importance that an initial analysis on a District level was drafted in
Freetown, since it allowed us to submit it to CGG field monitors, who
are very
experienced human rights activists with an in-depth knowledge about
what
happened during the conflict in the District for which they are
responsible. By
providing the CGG field monitors with a detailed outline of what
happened in a
District in terms of activities, movement of troops, violations
committed, they
were able to confirm or deny the information and to pinpoint areas
where more
research would be required, whether the information was incomplete or
simply
absent. We continued meeting with the CGG field monitors until our day
of
departure and their collaboration proved to be very fruitful, as it
allowed us
to proceed further and to undertake the drafting of the factual
analysis. We
specifically did not hire any CGG field monitors as conflict mapping
recorders,
so that we would be able to draw on their experience.
This ensured that there were no major errors or inconsistencies
in our District-level analyses, thus providing a crucial first level of
cross-checking.
Following this stage, our analysts began piecing together what happened
during the ten years of war in Sierra Leone, using three tools: the
incident database; detailed maps, mostly at District level, produced by
the Sierra Leone Information System of the UN Office for Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs; and the typed records. The result of
this stage, which involved collating and cross-checking vast amounts of
information, was a more detailed outline of what happened in each
District during the conflict, highlighting troop movements, chains of
command and events, including acts likely to constitute violations of
the laws of war, together with an overall picture of the conflict
throughout the country.
Once these stages were complete, experienced analysts began the long
process of putting all the information together, which consisted of
three stages. First, we conducted a “first review” of the rough
drafts, checking for internal sense and consistency. Second, each
rough draft went through a more thorough review, addressing potential
problems in the analysis, often going back to the original records and
maps to clarify issues. Finally, the rough drafts for each
District were put together and cross-referenced, which enabled us to
put together a general overview of the conflict. This led to the
completion of the first draft factual analysis. The next stage
was to incorporate information from open sources and other materials,
going back to the records when necessary to iron out inconsistencies
and to fill in details. This resulted in a second draft, which
included all verified information from the first draft, with the
addition of open sources and other material not gathered directly by us
in the field, but that were useful in confirming or correcting the
data.
This second draft went to “resource persons”, namely Sierra Leoneans
and foreigners with expertise in the conflict in Sierra Leone, who
agreed to confirm or deny information contained in the draft
report. This stage helped to clear up any lingering
inconsistencies or unclear information. The result of this
consultation process will produce the third and final draft of the
factual analysis.
While the factual analysis was being perfected with the assistance of
“resource persons”, NPWJ put together a legal analysis of the events
that happened during the conflict, which involved presenting and
discussing the relevant principles of international humanitarian and
criminal law. These principles were then applied to the facts as
analysed during the analysis phase, so as to ascertain what crimes
under international law and selected crimes under Sierra Leonean law
were committed during the conflict. This draft was sent to NPWJ’s
network of international law experts, many of whom have had experience
working on similar projects, such as the one we ran in Kosovo, or
practicing before international courts or tribunals. These people
are to the legal sections what the CGG field monitors and the resource
persons are to the factual sections.
An
Executive Summary of the
findings was published in October 2003, for distribution at the
opening
of the courthouse of the Special Court in March 2004, with the full
Conflict Mapping Report consisting of some 600 pages of detailed
analysis also being made available to the Office of the Prosecutor and
the Defence Office of the Special Court.
In addition, over a six
month period, NPWJ debriefed
a former high-level member of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who
provided us with a great deal of information on the inner workings of
the RUF
and an overview of the conflict since it began in 1991.
From the hours spent working with him, we
obtained a statement of over 100 pages, plus various documents and maps
describing the structure, procedures and geographical locations of the
RUF,
which were of immense benefit during the analysis phases. A senior
former
member of the Kamajor militia, the mainstay of the Civil Defence Forces
aligned
against the RUF during the conflict, was also debriefed for the same
purposes,
although not as extensively.
The process as a whole
enabled analysts to piece
together the conflict as it happened across time and space and to draw
out
patterns of conduct that may constitute crimes against humanity, namely
those
crimes committed in a widespread or systematic manner.
5.e)
Problems and solutions
The question facing the
project during the conceptual
phase was which method to select in order to maximise both the quality
of the
information gathered and the impact of information-gathering on Sierra
Leoneans, given the project’s resources and constraints.
The main constraints facing the project were
limited financial resources; a limited amount of time; the size of the
country
and ease of movement, including the condition of the roads; and the
fact that Sierra
Leone experiences torrential rains for six months of the year, making
many
roads completely impassable.
NPWJ decided during the
conceptual phase that the
most appropriate conflict mapping to undertake in Sierra Leone was one
that
focused on the whole of the country rather than a limited geographical
area was
to use information gathered from people in Sierra Leone with a good
general
overview of the conflict in their area (“key people”), supplemented
with open
source materials. In order to maximise
community participation, enhance the quality of the information and
overcome
potential cultural and linguistic barriers, it was considered that the
best
people to take records from people with an overview were Sierra
Leoneans from
the same geographical area as the key people (“Conflict Mapping
Recorders” or
“CMRs”). In addition, it was considered
that in order to enhance community “ownership” of the accountability
mechanisms, the Conflict Mapping and Outreach programs should as much
as
possible be conducted together.
Marrying the sensitisation and the documentation processes
ensures that
the perception of the communities reached is not that of being “told”
about the
accountability process as something that happens elsewhere and is
relevant to
others, but rather of truly taking part in it.
While this method was the
most appropriate in the
circumstances, it comes with its own potential drawbacks, which had to
be
addressed during the conceptual phase so as to minimise their possible
impact
during implementation. There are seven
major areas of concern of such importance that failure to recognise and
address
them would compromise the value of both the process and outcomes of the
project, which we have called “critical areas”.
The first critical area
is the quality of CMRs and
their ability to draw out relevant information from the key person so
as to
compile a record that could be used during the analysis
phase. This was addressed through a rigorous
two-fold selection process. In the
first instance, NPWJ outlined the program to partner NGOs in the
regions, often
members of the SCWG, who would nominate persons they considered
suitable to be
CMRs. Following that initial
nomination, NPWJ held a training session for the potential CMRs,
including a
practical exercise in record-taking, and selected CMRs on the basis of
the
results of that training. In addition,
CMRs were trained in recognising their own potential biases and how to
overcome
them or, at the very least, to identify those biases for the analysts.
The second critical area
concerns the quality and
usability of the records, which is distinct from the quality of the
person
taking the record, although the two often overlap.
This was overcome by rigorous training in how to take a record
and what information might be relevant, which included practical
exercises in
taking a record before interviewing the first key person.
In addition, once the first record had been
taken, NPWJ personnel reviewed the record with the CMR, to point out
potential
problems and provide advice on how to take a more comprehensive record.
The third critical area
is the quality of the key
people interviewed by the CMRs. In
order to overcome this concern, CMRs were provided with rigorous
guidelines and
criteria for ideal candidates for key people.
Once CMRs had made their initial selection of the key people
they wished
to interview, NPWJ personnel went through the list with them and
discussed
their choices, suggesting alternatives where the key people were
inappropriate.
The fourth critical area
is the accuracy of the
information provided by the key people.
This was addressed by providing CMRs with guidelines and
training in
interviewing and how to take a record, including the importance of
accuracy and
not “making up” information to fill in gaps, as well as recognising
potential
bias in key people.
The fifth critical area
concerns the accuracy of the
information itself. Given that the
conflict ranged over the course of a decade and many key people were
either
relatively young when events happened or were relatively elderly at the
time
they gave their record, not to mention the potential effects of post
traumatic
stress disorder, even with the best intentions on the part of both the
CMRs and
the key people there is always the possibility that people are
mistaken. This was addressed by reviewing the first
factual analysis with well respected local human rights activists who
were not
involved in the Conflict Mapping Program and who themselves had a good
general
overview of what happened in a particular district.
In addition, it was addressed by providing the factual analysis
to other local and foreign experts, such as Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty
International, and by cross-checking the information with open source
materials.
The
sixth critical area was geographical coverage.
In its original conception, the Conflict Mapping Program was to
have one
CMR per chiefdom, in order to have saturation coverage across the whole
country. However, time, financial and
logistical restraints meant that this was not possible, as there are
149
chiefdoms across the country, plus the rural Western Area, not all of
which are
accessible at all times of the year. In
order to avoid making arbitrary decisions about which chiefdoms to cut
and with
a view to minimising the damage to the report as a whole, NPWJ
therefore
discussed this issue with the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), the
leading
human rights NGO in Sierra Leone with human rights monitors in every
district,
and the SCWG. We sought their advice on
which chiefdoms could be covered by a CMR from a neighbouring chiefdom
(termed
“linked”) and which chiefdoms were not the scene of a great deal of
activity
during the conflict and could be cut altogether. In
addition, we discussed with CGG which chiefdoms they would be
able to provide us with information about, on the basis of their
regular human
rights reporting work as well as a special human rights violations
reporting
project they undertook during 2001.
The
final critical area related to processing the raw information generated
by the
program – in short, information management. Failure to secure, store
and
accurately break down the records into a practical format for analysis
would
undermine efforts to accurately reconstruct the events described in
them. In
November 2002, we began developing a customised database that would
allow the
narratives in the records to be broken down into incidents, storing
simple
information about the incident alongside data about the exact location
and date
of its occurrence. As soon we started collecting the first completed
records in
mid May they entered a process of digitisation. In late June, once all
the
records were collected, records were broken down into incidents by a
team of
specially trained database analyst. A thorough system of cross checking
was
implemented throughout to maintain the accuracy of information from
record
through to database.
An additional constraint
related to planning for
taking the Conflict Mapping Program into the provinces.
Four visits per District were initially planned
for the conflict mapping team (introductory visit: meeting with civil
society
and local authorities to introduce the project; training workshop;
first review
workshop; and final payment). However, this would take a very long time
to
implement, as the road network did not allow for direct travel between
major
towns. Often, a circuitous route had to
be taken, which meant that we would not have sufficient time to
implement the
whole program across the country. In
addition, the rainy season was approaching, making many roads
impassable and
some parts of the country completely inaccessible.
It was therefore decided to work closely with the outreach team
who were to undertake a Provincial “tour” for the “Training The
Trainers” (TTT)
seminars. As part of this collaboration, Outreach team introduced the
Conflict
Mapping program during these training seminars. Furthermore, a second
conflict
mapping team was set up, comprised of the best CMRs from the Western
Area
alongside an experienced trainer, so that the country would be divided
between
those two teams to ensure that this process was successfully completed
on time,
which we were able to achieve.
6.
Submission
of NPWJ to the TRC on 28 July 2003
In February 2003, NPWJ
was requested by the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission to make a submission to it on the issues of
justice,
the rule of law and amnesties for crimes under international law,
including the
Special Court for Sierra Leone. The TRC
was set up, following the Lome Peace Agreement, to establish an
historical
record of truth about the conflict in Sierra Leone, including the
violations
committed during that conflict, and to make recommendations for the
future.
NPWJ had been asked to make this submission on the basis of our close
association with the Special Court since 2000 and the strong reputation
built
up in policy, legal, NGO and Government circles in Sierra Leone.
We therefore drafted a submission addressing
these points, which was presented orally to the TRC on 28 July 2003 by
the
Country Director on behalf of NPWJ and in writing the following
day. The submission received some press coverage
in Freetown and was also distributed by NPWJ to various people,
including the
EC Delegation in Freetown and interested academics and NGOs in Sierra
Leone and
abroad.
7.
Results