Promoting Human Rights and Justice in Liberia
Issue
“Africa has suffered some of the world’s most horrific conflicts. [As these societies] progress toward peace, [they are often] ill-equipped for addressing past — and preventing future — abuses.”
— International Center for Transitional Justice 2006/2007 Annual Report
Strategies
- Seek recognition for victims of mass atrocities and human rights violations
- Build local capacity to facilitate truth seeking, prosecutions, reparations, and institutional reform
— International Center for Transitional Justice
Case Study
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
- Incubated by the Ford Foundation and launched in 2001
- Helps countries pursue accountability for mass atrocities and human rights abuses
- Works in Liberia and 7 other Sub-Saharan countries
- Received $25 million in start-up funds from Ford and 4 other foundations
Results
- Helped create the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC), which investigates abuses committed during the civil wars
- Fostered campaign to engage Liberian refugees in the U.S. in the truth-seeking process
- Trained Liberian journalists on transitional justice and supported their coverage of the war crimes trial of ex-President Charles Taylor
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Research Sources
International Center for Transitional Justice
Ford Foundation
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia
Communicating Justice
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