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Charles Taylor’s Trial: Ending Impunity in Africa and Testing the Effectiveness of the International Justice System Zoellick’s visit to Sub-Saharan Africa

Former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, is currently being prosecuted at The Hague for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred during the decade long civil war in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor is believed to have organized, instigated and ordered abuses such as terrorizing civilians, mutilation and beating, murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting and using child soldiers, enslavement, and many more atrocious crimes [1]. In addition, Taylor is being charged for providing military equipment and training to Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels (RUF), a rebel movement that is particularly notorious for barbaric practices such as hacking off the hands and legs of innocent civilians, including women and children [2].

Although Taylor is currently in trial for his individual criminal responsibility in serious international crimes, the prosecution’s case does not claim that Taylor has committed these crimes on his own [3]. Instead, Mr. Taylor is currently charged for his alleged role as a major supporter for the RUF and for the extent of his involvement in the execution of a plan to take control of Sierra Leone. The fact that Taylor acted from a distance does not justify, nor does it minimize, the atrocities in which he is involved, however it does make his crimes harder to prove [4]. According to the court’s Chief Prosecutor, Mr. Stephen Rapp, Taylor’s case focuses on proving his association with the RUF and his failure to prevent atrocious crimes from being executed while knowing about them: “We have to show the connection to Taylor, that he knew the RUF was targeting civilians for murder, for mutilations, for rape, and sexual slavery; that they were recruiting children under 15 to commit horrible acts. If he knew that, and he nonetheless aided them, then he is guilty of the crime [5].”

On the other hand, Courtenay Griffiths QC, Taylor’s lawyer, will defend Taylor’s case on the basis that backing up rebels in a foreign country is not a crime, but rather, an extension of Taylor’s foreign policy: “My case is he should not be on trial at all. He is being tried for his foreign policy. There is nothing to distinguish between what he has done and what other leaders in the West have done historically [6].” According to Griffith, that Taylor is believed to have organized and ordered the execution of hundreds of civilians is not enough to qualify him as a criminal against humanity. In making such a case, not only is Mr. Griffith ignoring the thousands of victims, and the victims’ families, demanding that justice be done against Taylor’s crimes, but Griffith is also arguing that foreign policy can be conducted without ethics and moral standards, and that it should be legitimized and unpunished.

Taylor’s lasting influence in Liberia has triggered fears and concerns that conducting his trial in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, could stir instability and riots in West Africa. Many supporters of Taylor continue to regard him as a “pan-African hero maligned by the superpowers in a neo-colonialist masquerade of justice”. The trial of Taylor has therefore been moved to the facilities of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, although it will be carried out by legal officials assigned to the Special Court for Sierra Leone [7]. The trial is expected to continue for the next 18 months, and if Taylor is indeed found guilty, he will be transferred to the United Kingdom where he will serve his term.

The IIJD strongly advocates and supports the prosecution of Taylor, which demonstrates an important step towards the end of impunity amongst authority figures, which is fundamental to a properly administered justice system. In a world where the international justice has too often been absent and deceiving, the trial and conviction of Taylor presents an important development in the efficiency of the international justice towards the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity and also towards the strengthening of the accountability, transparency and fairness of the international court. It will send out the message that tyrants are not above the law, that they will face severe consequences for the practice of a barbaric rule, and that impunity shall no longer be tolerated: “If Taylor's convicted, there will be an expectation of justice that leaders will be held to account" says Stephen Rapp. If impunity is not contained, and the criminalization of state power is not enforced, then Africa will continue to suffer from corruption and violence from its governmental institutions. The prosecution of Taylor will strengthen the credibility of the international court by demonstrating that no one can escape the law, and that leaders themselves will now be subjected to indictment for orchestrating criminal abuses against innocent civilians.

[1] Human Rights Watch: “Questions and Answers on Charles Taylor’s

Trial Before the Special Court of Sierra Leone”

[2] Guardian: “The Political Trail of Charles Taylor”

[3-6] BBC: “Africa’s Test for International Justice”

[7] Human Rights Watch: “Questions and Answers on Charles Taylor’s