It's a mantra repeated by government officials, activists and the international community: Liberia's victims and survivors must be at the heart of efforts to bring justice for crimes committed in the country's long civil wars that ended in 2003.
Monrovia — It's a mantra repeated by government officials, activists and the international community: Liberia 's victims and survivors must be at the heart of efforts to bring justice for crimes committed in the country's long civil wars that ended in 2003. But now the office to establish the War and Economic Crimes Courts is finally taking shape, victims and survivors say they have been excluded from the process.
"The process is about us. Why couldn't we be at the table?" asks Mr. Sonyah."They intentionally did it so that we couldn't be part of this whole thing. We will still make our cry that our voices should be heard." "We bear the greatest pain," says Mr. Peterson Sonyah, executive director of the Liberia Massacre and Survivors Association, the largest victims' and survivors' group."So, if you get us involved you are heading somewhere. But if you just exclude us from the whole process, and we don't know anything that is going on, we will not feel fine."
Mr. Sonyah rejected that explanation saying a representative of victims' should have been in the room. The extraordinary trauma caused by the war has had a deep impact on all Liberians and on Liberian society itself according to experts. Mental health advocates say that beyond ensuring victims and survivors feel included, court leaders will need to consider the rekindling of trauma that the courts will provoke for all Liberians. They say that concern should be central to the process. Keeping victims onside will be key.There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.
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