SIERRA LEONE: Civil society criticises "vague" government plan for post-war reform

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 13 Jul 2005 (IRIN) - The government of Sierra Leone has published proposals for implementing the recommendations of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), but human rights and other civil society groups have criticised them in a joint statement as "vague and noncommittal".

Paul James-Allen, a Freetown-based human rights advocate, said the government white paper, published quietly in late June, fell short of expectations that the authorities would adopt far-reaching reforms to prevent a repetition of Sierra Leone's brutal 1991-2001 civil war.

“The paper hand-picks just some recommendations, and even those it treats very briefly,” he told IRIN. “This represents non-commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.”

James-Allen accused the government of taking the TRC's recommendations, delivered to the government in October 2004, too lightly.

“We still believe we can bring institutional reform to Sierra Leone, but if it’s the wish of the government just to keep things the way they are, that’s unfortunate for us as citizens,” he said, speaking by telephone from the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

The TRC investigated atrocities committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war, which became notorious for the rebels’ trademark practice of hacking off the limbs of captured civilians.

The commission, chaired by Sierra Leone's Methodist bishop, Joseph Humper, recommended a series of measures to ensure the protection of human rights and specifically the rights of children.

It also called for reform of the judicial system, the elimination of discrimination against women and a drive to root out corruption.

The commission designated its recommendations according to four levels of priority: "imperative," "work towards," "serious consideration" and "call on".

In the human rights section among the TRC’s “imperative” recommendations was the abolition of the death penalty and the avoidance of criminal sanctions on the free exchange of ideas.

Among the measures proposed to promote “good governance”, the TRC recommended that the government provide legal protection for whistleblowers and keep all procurement activities “scrupulously open and transparent.”

No timeframe

However, the government's 17-page policy document, entitled “White Paper on the Truth and Reconciliation Project” failed to establish a timeline for implementing any of these measures.

In many cases it pointed to actions already taken, such as the establishment of a human rights commission, whose membership has still to be finalised.

Civil society groups had been eagerly awaiting the white paper, seeing it as a crucial first step towards government implementation of the TRC recommendations.

Many had advised the government on what should be done. But a coalition of citizens’ groups expressed their dismay over the weak content of the document in an open letter to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah dated 1 July.

The white paper “does not reflect any serious engagement” with the TRC process, the letter said. “If this ‘White Paper’ is intended to represent Government’s definitive response to the TRC report, then in civil society’s view it is in need of substantial revision.”

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission warned in its report, finalised in October 2004, that the conditions of extreme poverty, lack of government services to the population and rampant corruption that gave rise to the civil war still existed in this small West African country.

[ENDS]