Liberia Human Rights

Upcoming Event

Film Screenings of Women of Liberia: Fighting for Peace

As a result of the devastating wars Liberia experienced between 1989 and 1997 and also between 1999 and 2003, over 200,000 people died and another half million Liberians were displaced. Liberian women, in record numbers, were confronted with unspeakable violence.

Women in Liberia: Fighting for Peace is a documentary that follows the epic journey of five Liberian women. Amnesty International invites you to the U.S. film launch and tour of this groundbreaking film.

» Learn more about the documentary, Women of Liberia
» See upcomming film screening schedule

Human Rights Concerns

Liberia is in transition from the downfall of the dictatorship of Charles Taylor in 2003 to planned elections in October; which hopefully will lead to the establishment of a stable democratic government. Under the aegis of the National Transitional Government, and with the assistance of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), about 100,000 former fighters -- from the Taylor government and two rebel groups -- have been disarmed, and are in the process of being integrated into the civil society. The lack of skills and of jobs is making this part of the process difficult. Nevertheless, the situation is relatively stable, and hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons have been able to return home.

Although the Transitional Government has been accused of a good deal of corruption, and UN sanctions on travel and exports of diamonds and timber are still in place, progress is being made toward elections in October.

BREAKING NEWS: Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hears Testimony from Liberians in  St. Paul, Minnesota

For two years, hundreds of volunteers from Minnesota and other states have worked to reveal the full story behind Liberia's bloody civil war. As reported by MinnPost.com, , Liberians who fled the conflict have an opportunity to tell their stories at public hearings being held from June 10-15, 2008 at Hamline University in St. Paul. Advocates for Human Rights coordinated the U.S. arm of these extraordinary hearings and invited Liberians from across the United States to tell their war stories and contribute recommendations for how their West African nation should deal with the aftermath.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was inspired by the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement in August 2003 and ratified by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly of Liberia on June 10, 2005, exactly three years to the day the hearing in St. Paul began.  The TRC made Liberia one of about 30 countries that have followed the example of South Africa at the end of the apartheid regime. It is very unusual for a Truth and Reconciliation process following a traumatic period in a nation’s life to be staged in another country, particularly one so far away from the conflict zone.  The Minnesota hearings are the only ones the TRC has scheduled in the United States.

The TRC has held several public hearings in Liberia, which have been very closely followed and scrutinized by Liberians all around the world.  Before it wraps up its deliberations, the TRC is investigating gross human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and October 14, 2003.  These abuses include massacres, rapes, unlawful killings and economic crimes. The TRC is also charged with identifying those believed to be responsible for these violations and their motives and analyzing the circumstances, context, preceding events and other relevant factors relating to the violations, whether they were the result of deliberate planning, and their impact on the victims. The TRC’s functions also include ensuring accountability for human right violations, promoting community and national reconciliation and establishing a historical record. The commission has no authority to prosecute wrongdoers, however; prosecutions are the responsibility of the Liberian government.

UPDATE: Great news for global justice

On April 3, Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, had his first day in court in the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The court prosecuter read out the 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity facing Charles Taylor due to his involvement in Sierra Leone's civil war of the 1990s. Three years after the original indictment Charles Taylor has finally been brought into the custody court to face the charges against him. Read the transcript of the online discussion | Learn more »

Conflict in Liberia

Liberia has suffered 14 years of unrest and conflict, which began with the rebellion launched in 1989 by Charles Taylor, who was elected president in 1997 after years of fighting and numerous failed peace agreements. Two years after his election, armed conflict broke out between the government of Liberia, led by Taylor, and the rebel group LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians within the country and to neighboring states. AI has documented serious human rights abuses perpetrated by both sides in the conflict, including the deliberate killing of civilians, torture, the forced recruitment of children and sexual violence, including rape. The conflict intensified in 2003, with LURD advancing to within a few kilometers of Monrovia and a new-armed opposition group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerging in the east and south of the country, in areas bordering Côte d'Ivoire.

In August 2003, talks brokered by the International Contact Group on Liberia and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) resulted in a final settlement between the warring parties. The peace agreement authorized the establishment of an interim government led by a Chairman, Gyude Bryant, to be installed on October 14, 2003, leading to elections in 2005. Under the agreement, Charles Taylor was forced to leave the country for exile in Nigeria, relinquishing power to his Vice President Moses Blah. The peace agreement, supported by the presence of ECOWAS peacekeeping forces and a very limited number of American troops has restored a measure of order to the capitol city of Monrovia and surrounding areas. Yet unrest continues in the interior of the country, preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the many thousands of displaced persons residing there. The UN has recently approved a peacekeeping contingent of 15,000 troops who will be charged with maintaining security, ensuring accessibility to humanitarian aid, and disarming the country's 30,000 combatants, including child soldiers. To further progress toward peace, initiatives are urgently needed in the areas of post-conflict reconstruction, rehabilitation and the establishment of effective institutions for the protection of human rights in the future.

In recent years, fighting has spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire, threatening the stability of the entire West African sub-region. Fighting in neighboring countries has resulted in widespread human rights abuses, population displacement and exacerbation of already desperate humanitarian situations. Conflicts in this region have resulted in thousands of refugees and internally displaced people in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The conflicts have also fuelled the movement of combatants and arms across borders. Mercenaries from Liberia and Sierra Leone have been implicated in supporting rebel factions in Côte d'Ivoire; the government of Burkina Faso has been accused of providing support to the armed opposition in Côte d'Ivoire, and the government of Ghana of offering military support to the government in Côte d'Ivoire.

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