Introduction
On 18 April 2003, former President and leader of the National Patriotic Front (NPF) of Liberia Charles Taylor and two rebel groups – Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) – signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This agreement signalled the end of a 14-year conflict that resulted in mass atrocities in Liberia and in neighbouring countries. Sexual violence became rampant and 60-70% of the population was subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence during this period (HRW, 2004).
Although women and girls were the primary victims of sexual violence, with rape and sexual violence used as a weapon of war, numerous abuses against men and boys were also recorded. Underlying social inequalities and cultural norms in Liberia have contributed to patterns of peacetime sexual violence which were exacerbated during the conflict period. The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which ran from 2005 to 2009, made significant recommendations regarding redress for victims/survivors of sexual violence that occurred in the conflict.
Conflict and Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Historically, Liberia was ruled by Americo-Liberians who settled in the country as free slaves from the United States. In 1980, a master sergeant in the Liberian army, Samuel Doe, led a coup d’état and formed the first indigenous government, a military one, led by the Krahn ethnic group. After elections marked by fraud, Doe became president of the country in 1985. He instituted the use of repressive methods against the Gio and Mano ethnic groups (Bøås, 2005).
The politico-economic climate that Doe inherited from the Americo-Liberians favoured the Krahn ethnic group, which contributed to growing disillusionment among other groups. In 1989, Charles Taylor and his NPF militia, supported by the Gio and Mano groups, began an armed conflict that would only end in 2003. Upon Doe’s death in 1990, the Krahn and the Mandingo also formed a counterinsurgency that would break away to form MODEL.
The conflict contributed to the social and economic breakdown of Liberian society. According to Liebling-Kalifani et al., “The fourteen years of armed conflict saw not only the destruction of Liberia’s social and economic infrastructure, but high levels of brutality by all factions. These included widespread killings, rape, sexual assault, abduction, torture, forced labour, recruitment of child soldiers” (2011, p. 3). The TRC found that all sides were involved in routine sexual violations and that their targeting was based on gender (TRC, 2010e, p. 273).
Contributing Factors around Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was entrenched in Liberian society. It shaped the ways in which gender dynamics played out during the time of the conflict, heightening the vulnerability and targeting of women and girls. The prevalence of gender-based violence was influenced by ideologies of male dominance across the country’s different ethno-linguistic groups, which fed into the institutional culture of the state.
Through legislation and policy, skewed gender dynamics were normalised. For example, the so-called Hinterland Law ensured that women were denied the right to own property, engage in major public discussions and decision-making processes, do certain jobs and drive cars. The law stipulated that a man could return his wife to her family if he was dissatisfied with her – a process that could not be challenged by the wife or her family. It rendered women vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, laying the foundation for additional violations experienced by women during the conflict (TRC, 2010a).
According to the TRC, the motives behind the violations experienced by women and men during the war were “to violate a person in a mental, physical, emotional, economic and psychological way” (p. 40). Sexual violence was used to instil terror during the war.
Women’s bodies moved from belonging to the private sphere to being public and political manifestations of identity and thus serving as collective bodies. Sexual violence, often based on ethno-religious identity, was used as both a weapon of war and an avenue of social control over women and men.
The TRC found that children experienced 18 out of the 23 violations it focused on, including rape, gang rape and sexual slavery (TRC, 2009b, p. 30). In Liberian society, children were seen as a resource that serviced adults, which encouraged their forced recruitment into armed groups. According to the TRC, “Children constituted approximately 10 to 20 percent of members of armed groups and were considered central to the armed groups’ logistics and combat efforts in that they relied heavily on children to be porters, cleaners, cooks, scouts, domestic and sexual slaves, as well as active combatants” (p. 96).
Girls, some as young as 10, were abducted, raped and forced to become ‘bush wives’ to soldiers. Boys and young male recruits were subjected to similar sexual violence. They were also forced to commit atrocities of a sexual nature against women and girls, particularly family members and friends.
Transition and Establishment of the Truth Commission
A stalemate in the Liberian conflict led to peace negotiations from June to August 2003. The negotiations, facilitated by the former head of state of Nigeria and external mediator for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Abdulsalami Abubakar, led to the signing of the CPA on 18 August 2003 in Accra, Ghana. The agreement enabled power-sharing among the NPF, LURD, MODEL and other political organisations, alongside civil society. Under Article XIII, the CPA provided for the establishment of the TRC to address impunity, determine the root causes of the crises in Liberia and contribute to measures for the rehabilitation of victims/survivors.
Women’s groups actively mobilised to end the violence and ensure that gender issues were included in the talks. The Mano River Women’s Peace Network, a sub-regional organisation that operated in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, became a formal observer and signatory of the peace agreement (IPTI, 2018). Although the CPA did not specifically focus on sexual and gender-based violence, the women’s groups ensured that the TRC would address gender issues.
Both local and international actors contributed to the end of the conflict, maintaining peace after the agreement was signed, and shaping the transitional justice process. The CPA called on the international community to fund and provide technical assistance to the TRC. The Liberian conflict not only affected the state but also contributed to regional instability in West Africa, which drew international attention.
Mandate and Scope in Respect of CRSV
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act (2005) mandates the TRC “to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation” by investigating gross human rights violations and violations of humanitarian law, sexual violations and economic crimes that occurred between January 1979 and October 2003.
The act required the TRC to establish mechanisms and procedures to address the gender-based violations experienced by women, children and other vulnerable groups during the war. This included precautionary measures such as ensuring that people who were alleged to have committed crimes of this nature were not employed by the TRC.
TRC Act mandated that special mechanisms and procedures be put in place for gender-based violations and issues of child soldiers during the investigations, but the nature of these procedures was not detailed.
The act provided that funding for the TRC would be sourced from foreign governments, United Nations agencies and international nongovernmental organisations. The selection panel for the TRC commissioners would consist of one representative from ECOWAS and one from the United Nations. The involvement of international actors would influence the TRC’s operations.
Truth Commission Operations
The TRC Act stipulated that a minimum of four of the nine commissioners had to be women. Massa A. Washington was appointed as the head of the Gender Unit and the Gender Committee, which were not provided for in the mandate but rather an initiative of the commission.
The Gender Committee consisted of local and international actors working towards the recognition of women’s experiences in the war and promoting their participation in the TRC. The committee included the Ministry of Gender, the Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, the International Center for Transitional Justice, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (TRC, 2009a, p. 12). It analysed the gender dimensions of the war and how gender shaped the realities of women in Liberia before, during and after the conflict. The Gender Committee also initiated consultative processes to amplify the voices of women.
The Gender Unit investigated sexual and gender-based violations, such as rape, gang rape, multiple rapes, sexual abuse and sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, forced termination and disembowelment of pregnancy (p. 40). Through consultative initiatives such as town hall meetings, workshops and statement taking, immediate measures such as psychosocial support and medical services were offered to women in the 15 counties of Liberia. Under this umbrella, women could participate and steer the commission to include more gender-sensitive outcomes.
The TRC also deployed an external gender consultant, Anu Pillay, to conduct research and assist with drafting the report on women’s experiences.
The commission did not make special arrangements for victims/survivors of sexual violence when it came to their testimonies. In line with its mandate, it did make special arrangements for child victims/survivors giving testimonies, including anonymity and having access to psychosocial services (p. 4).
Truth Commission Final Report
The TRC’s final report was published on 30 June 2009 and presented to the public on 1 July 2009.
Through the consultations, preparation and statement taking that happened in different counties, women accounted for over 47% of the total testimonies taken. The commission stated that therefore the different experiences of women in Liberia during the conflict and peacetime were represented in the report (TRC, 2009a, p. 5).
The TRC reported on rape, gang rape, multiple rapes, sexual abuse and sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, forced termination and disembowelment of pregnancy, and expanded its remit to include forced nudity, which men constantly experienced (p. 40). It stated that the victims of sexual violence included women, girls, men and boys, as well as vulnerable groups, including the blind, deaf, physically and intellectually disabled, and the elderly (p. 31).
In the report, the definition of sexual violence was extracted from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and used to categorise the different violations that occurred during the conflict: “The perpetrator committed an act of a sexual nature against one or more persons or caused such person or persons to engage in an act of a sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power, against such person or persons or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment or such person’s or persons’ incapacity to give genuine consent.”
The final report included a list of perpetrators recommended for persecution for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, war crimes and domestic laws. The list included the leaders Charles Taylor (NPF), Thomas Yaya Nimely (MODEL) and Sekou Damante Konneh (LURD) (TRC, 2009e, p. 349). Their specific violations were not included. The report also listed other “most notorious perpetrators” and their violations.
The TRC concluded that between 0.6-1.5% of reported violations were related to rape and other forms of sexual violence and that women were commonly targeted during the conflict (TRC, 2009a, p. 40). The low figure is due to fear of ostracisation and isolation caused by the stigma surrounding sexual violence. Victims between the ages of 5 and 19 make up over 50% of the total rapes recorded from the conflict (TRC, 2009b, p. 7).
Truth Commission Recommendations
The TRC recommended that “the Government of Liberia assumes its responsibilities and be seized of all recommendations of the TRC as both a duty and obligation” (TRC, 2009e, p. 384).
In its report, the commission made general and specific recommendations for sexual violence victims, as it did for other categories of victims. Five recommendations were specifically for victims of sexual violence and four further recommendations were for redress of other violations of a sexual nature, which included a forward-looking sexual harassment policy framework.
The TRC recommended that women who had been subjected to sexual violence be given free medical care. Furthermore, it recommended that the government pay special attention to the health needs and rights of women in vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, namely migrant women, refugee and internally displaced women, the girl child and older women, women in prostitution, rural women, and women with mental and physical disabilities (TRC, 2009d, p. 386). Although the recommendations went on to address the different groups coined as vulnerable, high priority and consideration were given to victims of sexual and gender-based violence. These measures were to be implemented immediately, irrespective of whether a reparation trust fund had been established or become operational.
The TRC recommended that sexual violence victims receive rehabilitation and integration support, including through special programmes for resettling and reintegrating women with children born in sexual slavery (TRC, 2009e, p. 387). It also recommended specialised clinics for addressing sexual and gender-based violations against women and girls, including HIV testing and counselling (TRC, 2009a,p. 87).
The TRC recommendations incorporated legal and institutional measures to provide guarantees of non-recurrence. These included the enactment of a sexual harassment statute, which specified the need to empower women and ensure they are protected in the workplace, home and community at large (TRC, 2009d, p. 386). This reform would include punitive measures, either civil or criminal, to deter sexual crimes, as well as modes of compensation. The TRC also made recommendations for institutional reforms to establish and strengthen the capacity in the provision of prevention, response and treatment services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence (p. 388).
The commission furthermore recommended dialogues between government and traditional and spiritual authorities to address practices considered harmful to women’s and girls’ reproductive health. These practices include female genital cutting and forced marriage. Lastly, the commission recommended that the government take all “legislative, administrative, social and educational measures” to shield the children in Liberia from any future abuses, either physical or sexual, by any persons (TRC, 2009e, p. 388).
Truth Commission Recommendations Implementation
Liberia has taken no observable action to enact the necessary legislation for the implementation of the TRC’s recommendations. Civil society organisations continue to call for implementation “for the justice for the people” and “women who were victimized to get their needed justice” (Mudia, 2020).
References
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Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2004. “The Guns Are in the Bushes”: Continuing Abuses in Liberia. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/africa/liberia0104.htm
Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative (IPTI). 2018. Women in Peace and Transition Processes. https://www.inclusivepeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/case-study-women-liberia-2003-2011-en.pdf
Liebling-Kalifani, H., Mwaka, V., Ojiambo-Ochieng, R., Were-Oguttu, J., Kinyanda, E., Kwekwe, D., & Danuweli, C. 2011. “Women War Survivors of the 1989-2003 Conflict in Liberia: The Impact of Sexual and Gender-based Violence.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, 12(1): 1-21.
Mudia, J. 2020. “Liberia: Activists Make TRC Implementation Call.” Development Diaries. https://www.developmentdiaries.com/2020/11/liberia-activists-make-trc-implementation-call/
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