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Liberia Youth, Poverty and Blood The Lethal Legacy of West Africa’s Regional Warriors The lives of “regional warriors” are documented in this 66-page report. Based on interviews with some 60 former fighters who have crossed borders to fight in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, the report explores the forces driving the phenomenon of cross-border mercenary activity in West Africa. HRW Index No.: A1705 April 13, 2005 Download PDF, 419 KB, 69 pgs Purchase online Bringing Justice: the Special Court for Sierra Leone Accomplishments, Shortcomings, and Needed Support This 56-page report evaluates developments at the court, identifying achievements and making recommendations where operations should be improved. The report also urges the international community to provide more financial and political support for the court so it can complete its work effectively. HRW Index No.: A1608 September 8, 2004 Download PDF, 407 KB, 57 pgs Purchase online How to Fight, How to Kill Child Soldiers in Liberia This 43-page report documents how more than 15,000 child soldiers fought on all sides of the Liberian civil war, and that many units were composed primarily of children. The report argues that establishing a firm peace in the West African nation will depend on the successful reintegration of child soldiers into civil society. HRW Index No.: A1602 February 2, 2004 Download PDF, 410 KB, 44 pgs Purchase online Liberia: Child Soldier Use 2003 A Briefing for the 4th UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict Reports indicated that the Armed Forces of Liberia continued to recruit children, both forcibly and voluntarily, in Monrovia and government-controlled areas. It is widely known that ex-President Taylor supported the United Revolutionary Front (RUF), which abducted and forcibly recruited children as soldiers in Sierra Leone. January 16, 2004 Trapped Between Two Wars Violence Against Civilians in Western Côte d'Ivoire This 55-page report documents widespread abuses against civilians in fighting following a September 2002 army mutiny. The abuses include summary executions, sexual violence against women and girls, and looting of civilian property by Ivorian government troops, government-supported civilian militias, and by the rebel groups. Both sides have recruited Liberian fighters, some of them from refugee camps in Côte d'Ivoire. Côte d'Ivoire's eight-month conflict was characterized by limited direct fighting between the nominal warring parties, but serious and sometimes systematic abuses against civilians. The new report documents these abuses in the west of the country, where tensions over land and proximity to Liberia exacerbated the conflict. The report calls for an international commission of inquiry to investigate abuses and recommend measures to bring perpetrators to justice, and for an extensive field-based human rights monitoring presence. It also calls on the Ivorian government to immediately stop backing the militias. HRW Index No.: A1514 August 5, 2003 Download PDF Purchase online Back to the Brink War Crimes By Liberian Government And Rebels The United Nations Security Council should maintain the arms embargo against the Liberian government, Human Rights Watch said in releasing a new report about abuses in Liberia today. Human Rights Watch also called for the arms embargo to be extended to cover the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and for an end to Guinea’s support for the LURD. The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on the arms embargo by May 7. The 23-page report, “Back to the Brink: War Crimes by Liberian Government and Rebels, A Call for Greater International Attention to Liberia and the Sub Region” provides compelling evidence that Liberian government forces fighting against the LURD are committing war crimes and other serious human rights abuses against civilians in the northwest of the country. HRW Index No.: A1404 May 1, 2002 Download PDF Purchase online Guinea: Refugees Still At Risk Continuing Refugee Protection Concerns in Guinea Hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees along Guinea's border were relocated from the embattled border area in early 2001 to camps in the interior of the country. While the organized movement from the border is a welcome and long overdue step, the long-term safety of the refugees is still under threat. The refugees are generally faced with the difficult choice of remaining in Guinea, or returning to Sierra Leone or Liberia, where serious threats to their safety persist. Some refugees say they are being asked to choose whether to die in Guinea or at home. If they stay in Guinea, refugees fear a repeat of last year's outbreak of harassment and violence at the hands of Guineans who blame them for the violence at the border. If they return home, they face an uncertain future, since both Sierra Leone and Liberia remain in a fragile balance between war and peace. Either choice raises serious protection concerns for the long-term safety of the refugees. July 1, 2001 Download PDF, 240 KB, 22 pgs Printer friendly version Liberia: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers The UN has estimated that up to 20,000 children, some as young as six years old, were among both government and opposition forces during Liberia’s seven-year civil war. In 1999 the Liberian government stated its commitment to an age of limit of 18 for participation in armed conflict, but the Armed Forces of Liberia have continued to recruit minors, including children from Sierra Leone. Demobilisation programmes have been slow and problematic, with only 4,300 child soldiers demobilised and 89% of the total number awaiting demobilisation disappearing before the process was complete in 1997. Many are thought to have returned to armed groups in renewed fighting. June 12, 2001 Liberia: Government Human Rights Commissions in Africa The founding of the Human Rights Commission in 1997 caused considerable controversy because of the lack of a consultative process and the passage of a law that limited the commission's powers to compel testimony, gather evidence, or directly petition. Since its creation, the Human Rights Commission has been paralyzed by Charles Taylor's government through its flawed legislation, inadequate funding, and political pressure. Tthe Human Rights Commission has taken little or no action other than to set up its offices. Despite growing evidence of abuses by the Taylor government, the commission has remained virtually silent. January 1, 2001 Liberia: ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring On July 19, 1997, Liberia's seven year war was finally ended through a U.N.-sanctioned election that swept former faction leader Charles Taylor and his party into power with 75 percent of the vote and a corresponding 75 percent majority in the legislature, giving him seventy of the ninety legislative seats. Ultimately, over a dozen peace accords and almost twenty cease-fire agreements were signed during the countless negotiations for peace that led to the elections. January 1, 2001 Liberia: Landmine Monitor Report 2000 Liberia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 23 December 1999. In a written response to Landmine Monitor's question on the reason for the accession, Liberia's Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Joe Mulbah, stated: Liberia believes that landmines pose a perpetual threat to civil society. Its use is pernicious to the people. The gruesome use of landmines has today left the world with millions of amputees and maimed children. Coming out of a seven-year civil war in which landmines were used on a minimal scale, we saw the horrendous impact it had on our people. We pray that such devastation should never come our way as a people who have resolved never to experience war in our existence. We therefore support the global programme to eliminate landmines. August 1, 2000 Emerging From Destruction On July 19, 1997, Liberia's seven-year war was finally ended through an election that swept former faction leader Charles Taylor and his party, the National Patriotic Party (NPP), into power with 75 percent of the vote. Due to the system of proportional representation used in the 1997 Liberian election, Charles Taylor also garnered a corresponding 75 percent majority in the legislature, giving him seventy of the ninety legislative seats. The new government is beginning the process of establishing and consolidating its authority in the face of enormous challenges. Tens of thousands of Liberians were killed during the fighting. Almost half the population is displaced, and the country's infrastructure is virtually destroyed. Ultimately, over a dozen peace accords and almost twenty cease-fire agreements were signed during the countless negotiations for peace. The repeated breakdown of the peace process can be attributed to a number of factors including the internal factionalization of the warring factions along ethnic lines, and their economic and political incentives for continuing the war. The proliferation of these groups was encouraged by the creation and support of anti-Taylor factions by the former government army and the regional peacekeeping force. Moreover, the lack of adequate leadership, training, and financing of the regional peacekeepers, and the unwillingness of the U.N. military observer mission to address the weaknesses of the regional peacekeeping force further contributed to the country's problems. October 1, 1997 Purchase online Children in Combat Throughout the world, thousands of children are used as soldiers in armed conflicts.1 Although international law forbids recruiting children under fifteen as soldiers, such young children may be found in government armies and, more commonly, in armed rebel groups. Armed forces, both governmental and non-governmental, often claim that the children in their camps are there for their own protection and welfare. In fact, however, the involvement of the children in the conflict puts them in grave danger and is detrimental to their physical and mental health and development. This report concerns the ways in which children are recruited, the possible reasons for their recruitment and participation, the roles children play in combat and in violence against civilians, and their treatment by the groups that recruit them. It does not deal with all of the countries in which child soldiers are used, but only with countries in which Human Rights Watch has investigated the practice. Legal standards for the prevention of the recruitment of children and problems in applying and enforcing them are covered as well. January 1, 1996 Download PDF, 219 KB, 26 pgs Printer friendly version Easy Prey: Child Soldiers in Liberia Child soldiers are among the most tragic victims of the war in Liberia. Although international law forbids the use of children under the age of 15 as soldiers, thousands of young children have been involved in the fighting since it began in December 1989. The main rebel forces, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and the United Liberian Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO), have consistently used children under the age of 18, including thousands under 15. Children are also reportedly used by the other warring factions. As a consequence, thousands of children in Liberia have suffered cruelly during the war: many have been killed or wounded or witnessed terrible atrocities. Moreover, many children themselves have been forced to take part in the killing, maiming or rape of civilians. The use of children as soldiers presents grave human rights problems. Many of these children have been killed during the conflict, thus denied the most basic right -- the right to life. Others have been forcibly conscripted by the warring factions, and separated from their families against their wills. Many have joined warring factions to survive. All have been denied a normal childhood. Reintegrating these children into their communities is a task of immense difficulty. Some children's parents have been killed, their families have fled, and no relatives can be found. In others, families have refused to take children back because of the abuses they have committed. Human Rights Watch believes that 18 is the minimum age at which people may properly take part in armed conflict. HRW Index No.: ISBN 1-56432-139-8 September 8, 1994 Easy Prey Child Soldiers in Liberia Children who have been used as soldiers are among the most tragic victims of the war in Liberia. Although international law forbids the use of children under the age of fifteen as soldiers, many thousands of children have been involved in the fighting.The main rebel forces, Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and the United Liberian Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO), have consistently used children under the age of eighteen, including thousands of children under fifteen. Children under fifteen are reportedly used by the other warring factions that have recently emerged. The widespread use of child soldiers has ensured that many thousands of children in Liberia have suffered exceptional cruelties during the war; many child soldiers have been killed or wounded, or have witnessed terrible atrocities in a period in which thousands of other children, too,have died. Moreover, many children have themselves taken part in the killing, maiming or rape of civilians, including other children, or the looting of civilian homes. September 1, 1994 Download PDF, 291 KB, 71 pgs Printer friendly version Human Rights Abuses by the Liberian Peace Council and the Need for International Oversight In late 1993, a new armed faction emerged in Liberia known as the Liberian Peace Council (LPC), and engaged Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) in combat. While both are responsible for severe human rights abuses, the LPC stepped up its campaign against civilians, especially those it considers members of the NPFL. Some 40,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting and they describe systematic and gratuitous abuses by the LPC. May 17, 1994 Waging War to Keep the Peace: The ECOMOG Intervention and Human Rights In 1990, the Economic Community Cease-fire Monitoring Group entered Liberia as a peacekeeping force, temporarily stopping the bloodshed and ethnic killing. However, Ecomog has not integrated human rights protection and promotion into its activities, leaving it embroiled in a conflict with few immediate prospects for resolution. June 1, 1993 The Cycle of Abuse: Human Rights Violations Since the November Cease-fire On November 28, 1990, Liberia's warring factions signed a cease-fire agreement, theoretically ending 11 months of fighting that had ravaged the country. Although the widespread killing and brutality associated with the civil war have largely subsided, an Africa Watch investigative mission found that human rights violations against the civilian population persist, ranging from extrajudicial executions and torture to tight restrictions on freedom of movement and intolerance of dissent. October 21, 1991 Liberia: A Human Rights Disaster Violations of the Laws of War by All Parties to the Conflict In the course of less than a year, Liberia has become a human rights disaster. Over half its population has been displaced from their homes, including over 500,000 who are refugees in West Africa. All parties to the conflict have committed grave abuses of human rights against civilians, violating the humanitarian standards governing non-international armed conflict. October 26, 1990 Liberia: Flight from Terror Testimony of Abuses in Nimba County A small group of rebel insurgents attacked the Liberian border town of Butuo in late December 1989, killing an undetermined number of soldiers and immigration officials. The government of Liberia responded to the attack with a show of force, sending two battalions to Nimba County, where Butuo is located. The army used brutal counterinsurgency tactics in its efforts to crush the rebellion, indiscriminately killing unarmed civilians, raping women, burning villages and looting. Most of the victims of the army abuses were of the Gio and Mano ethnic groups, who traditionally inhabit Nimba County. May 1, 1990
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