1. Introduction
2. Activities: Nation-wide Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program
3. Operational aspects of Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program
4. Consideration of costs of Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program

1. Introduction

For the Special Court to be a useful contribution to the conclusion of the conflict, it is essential that it be and be perceived as being an independent and just body that will establish accountability for violations of international humanitarian law.  The Government of Sierra Leone is very conscious of the importance of effective implementation of the Statute and Agreement, particularly in terms of cooperation with the Special Court and that the international community expects the Government to honour its obligations promptly and effectively in the fight against impunity.  It is equally conscious of the expectations of Sierra Leoneans that the Special Court will be a transparent and participatory accountability process.

The Government of Sierra Leone is seeking assistance for the costs relating to the establishment and operation of a Special Court Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program that would enable Sierra Leone to do its part in contributing to the success of the Special Court.  The Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program will be created to foster a feeling of ownership of the accountability process by all Sierra Leoneans.

The Government recognises that, since it is a party to the conflict, it is of paramount importance that such assistance by Sierra Leone to the Special Court not be perceived in any way as interfering in the independence of the Special Court. Hence, while the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program would be established and would derive its authority from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice of Sierra Leone, its operations for the first two years will be contracted to a reputable international NGO with experience in the field of international criminal law.

At the same time, the contractor's methodology will ensure that the necessary good practices and skills are transferred to national personnel and institutions with a view to building their capacity to work autonomously and impartially to assist the Special Court at the conclusion of the two-year period.

The operations of the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program could start as soon as a donor commits the necessary funds for the first two years of its operations and will last for the duration of the operations of the Special Court.  After the first 18 months of operation the international contracting NGO will gradually pass over responsibilities to national staff of the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program and will continue to monitor their work for an additional 6 months, with a view to establishing a fully operational national institution, entirely staffed by Sierra Leoneans, within 2 years.
 

2. Activities: Nation-wide Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program

The Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council of 4 October 2000 noted that: “[i]f the role of the Special Court in dealing with impunity and developing respect for the rule of law in Sierra Leone is to be fully understood and its educational message conveyed to Sierra Leoneans of all ages, a broad public information and education campaign will have to be undertaken as an integral part of the Court’s activities … In this public information campaign … the Government and non-governmental organisations could play an important role.”¹

At the Freetown Conference on Accountability Mechanisms in Sierra Leone, in February 2001, it was said that “the people of the former Yugoslavia have constantly stated that the proceedings of the ICTY seem so far removed and detached from their own day-to-day lives as to seem meaningless.  In Sierra Leone, however, there is an opportunity to prevent similar problems from arising before they even start.”  Participants at the Freetown Conference recommended that a capillary sensitisation program be undertaken to ensure that large parts of the Sierra Leonean population could be reached and encouraged to be part of the accountability process. This would fulfil the key concern that there is a need to ensure that the accountability process is visible and transparent to the general public, so that justice is seen to be done as well as being done. This is especially so in light of the fact that the Special Court for Sierra Leone is a hybrid, national/international court, established by treaty but borne out of a need for such a mechanism identified within Sierra Leone.

Nevertheless, due to financial and other constraints, the current projections of costs of the Special Court do not include a public information office, or even a public information officer.  The Government believes that ultimately, the success or failure of the accountability mechanisms established in Sierra Leone will depend on the level of interest and involvement of the public, who are the victims and the perpetrators (often both at the same time) and will be the witnesses and defendants.  It is therefore imperative that timely and accurate information reaches Sierra Leoneans and at the same time that all Sierra Leoneans have an opportunity to convey their information and experiences to the Special Court.

The Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program will undertake a nation-wide program that will contribute towards establishing confidence in the accountability mechanisms, by providing victims and witnesses with the basic knowledge essential to understand those mechanisms.  It will give victims and witnesses the opportunity to recount their experiences in such a way as to enable them to understand their personal and their communities’ experiences in the context of the war.  In this way it will give them the opportunity to contribute to the success of the Special Court in prosecuting those who bear the greatest responsibility for the violations of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone.

Ownership by Sierra Leoneans of the processes is important if the Special Court is to achieve its objective of closing the chapter on the ten-year conflict and restoring accountability and the rule of law. In order to take that ownership, all Sierra Leoneans must be in a position to participate consciously in the work of the accountability mechanisms.  It is thus vital that the program is conducted throughout the country, particularly in the provinces, where the majority of the fighting and atrocities occurred and communities were most divided by the conflict.

The objective of the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program is to visit each community in Sierra Leone and ensure that they would have the chance to both be and to feel consulted about the accountability process, establishing a flow of information not only to all Sierra Leoneans but also from all Sierra Leoneans.
Hence, the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program aims to achieve two primary objectives:

1. presenting the Special Court, including its mechanisms and objectives, to all Sierra Leoneans in all communities throughout the country, so that all Sierra Leoneans are informed and able to participate in the accountability process and recognise the value of ending impunity;
2. documenting the individual and collective experiences of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Special Court in all communities, so all Sierra Leoneans can contribute to creating a balanced and accurate picture of the nature and occurrence of these crimes.

This would mean that not only is each community being both informed as well as consulted about the work of the accountability mechanisms for Sierra Leone, it would also ensure that there is true consent to the witness telling their story.  The involvement of as much of the country as possible in conducting sensitisation and documentation in this manner would enhance the success of the Court through encouraging a sense of ownership of the processes by the people of Sierra Leone.

Only if the accountability process belongs to each and every community -- and if each community is able to come to terms with the events of the past -- will it be possible for former combatants (particularly child combatants) to be accepted and for meaningful long-term reintegration to take place.  Rehabilitation and reintegration is not simply a matter of locating next of kin and assisting in individual reintegration; it is about enabling society and each community to accept individuals back into its midst as much as it is about enabling an individual to live a “normal” life.

It is a common misconception² that violations of international humanitarian law, such as genocide or crimes against humanity, occur where combatants are free to act as they wish, through lack of discipline and supervision by senior officers, whereas the opposite is generally true.  Sporadic war crimes, even those of a very serious nature, can frequently be committed by combatants without the approval or knowledge of superiors.  Yet in all situations of massive violations of the laws of war amounting to crimes against humanity, these violations can be mapped out chronologically and geographically, evidencing patters of conduct that correspond to deliberate order of battle decisions designed to achieve precise strategic and tactical objectives and transmitted through a formal or informal (but no less effective) chain of command.

In Sierra Leone, where there has been a protracted conflict with various factions fighting against and along side each other, only an effective nation-wide documentation process through individual and community interviews can reveal those patterns of violations.  This will show the relationship of those patterns with the order of battle and chain of command, with specific events during the conflict and with the strategic tactical objective of each of the parties, which would allow the identification of “those who bear the greatest responsibility” for the atrocities committed.³

The Government is aware that, since it is a party to the conflict, if sensitisation and documentation were to be conducted directly by Government officials, for example the Sierra Leone Police, it could lead to questions being raised about the impartiality and reliability of the information, even if it possessed the necessary expertise.  As noted, justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done.  The Government would therefore contract out the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program, to an international NGO with experience in investigating widespread violations of international humanitarian law.  In this way, both the reality and the perception of the impartiality and reliability of the information thus gathered as well as the integrity and security of the data would be preserved.
 

3. Operational aspects of Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program
The Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program will be conducted through 15 mobile teams. Each team would be composed of one or two international experts, up to five Sierra Leonean personnel drawn from the legal, human rights and psycho-social professions.  Each team would travel to specific communities in Sierra Leone, for periods of two to three weeks at a time, followed by one week to ten days of data processing and analysis at the Program base.  During their period at base, each team would also have responsibility for remote control function through HF and Inmarsat voice and data communications for up to five teams in the field.  This would ensure that at any given time approximately 10 teams are conducting sensitisation and documentation in the field with sufficient support from the Program base in Freetown.

Upon arrival in each community, the mobile team would convene community events with the assistance of local chiefs, elders and community leaders.  The events may last a number of days depending on the size of the community and would comprise of three principal parts:

(a) one or more Training the Trainer sessions for those persons within each community who are generally regarded as a source of information and advice by their peers, for long term sustainability of the program;
(b) a Sensitisation event, in which the basic information on the Special Court and its nature and functions is transmitted to the community at large; and
(c) one or more Documentation sessions, in which the community as a whole and/or particular target sectors⁴ and, in exceptional circumstances, individual witnesses5 will have an opportunity to contribute to the history of that particular community by relating the events of the conflict, with particular reference to crimes under the jurisdiction of the court that have been committed by or against members of that community.

The expected result of the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program would be to involve the general population in the accountability process, as well as gathering sufficient information that can be analysed to produce an accurate picture of how the crimes fit within the order of battle and chain of command of the fighting forces.  This will assist the Prosecutor in focusing on “those who bears the greatest responsibility” for the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone, rather on individual low-level perpetrators who would be expected to go through different processes, such the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or traditional cleansing rites. In addition, by assisting communities to take part in the accountability process, the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program aims to facilitate the process of healing and the ability of those communities to accept the reintegration of former combatants.
 

4. Consideration of costs of Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program
The costs of the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program described would be approximately 1.750.000 USD for the first year, including start-up costs, 750.000 USD for the second year, and 500.000 USD thereafter.

While some donors, such as the European Union or some States, are currently unable to contribute to the Special Court Trust Fund established by the United Nations because the current projections of expenditure are still too flexible to satisfy their contractual requirements, they would be able to contribute to the Documentation and Conflict Mapping Program described here as it relates to predefined costs for specific predefined activities that need to be implemented to achieve specific objectives, so that the Special Court will be in a position to function effectively.  A fuller project description, including a detailed methodology, a timetable for implementation, verifiable expected results, a logical chart and a budget can be prepared according to specifications of potential donors.

Footnotes
1. Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the Establishment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 4 October 2000, UN Doc S/2000/915, para 7. [Return to text]
2. This may be because the media and human rights defenders typically focus on individual “news-worthy” cases of atrocities which, while a vital aspect of human rights work, tends to overlook the military hierarchy in which such crimes are committed. [Return to text]
3. It is said that some of the first defendants at the ICTY, such as Tadic or Erdemovic, were indicted by the Prosecutor simply because they happened to be available and the evidence has been collected by third States (Germany in the case of Tadic) or through confession (in the case of Erdemovic) rather on the basis of prosecutorial policy priorities. [Return to text]
4. Examples of particular target sectors who may have specific information would include women, returnees and former combatants. [Return to text]
5. Namely those individuals who have pertinent information and would prefer to recount their experiences in private. [Return to text]
6. It is worth noting that the information thus gathered, even after analysis and cross-checking, would not be evidence nor it would be proffered as such to the Special Court.  Rather, it would constitute “lead” information that will allow the Prosecutor to conduct his or her own investigations of “those who bear the greatest responsibility” on the basis of as clear and comprehensive a picture as possible of the patterns of violations. [Return to text]

This report was prepared by the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice of Sierra Leone for the Special Court Task Force with the technical cooperation of No Peace Without Justice.