Covering events from January-December 2001

Republic of Liberia
Head of state and government: Charles G. Taylor
Capital: Monrovia
Population: 3.1 million
Official language: English
Death penalty: retentionist

The human rights situation deteriorated significantly throughout the year as armed conflict continued. Widespread abuses against civilians were carried out by both the Liberian security forces and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an armed opposition group based in Guinea. Government forces were responsible for extrajudicial executions, unlawful detention, torture including sexual violence, forced labour and forcible recruitment of civilians. LURD forces carried out summary executions, abductions and torture including rape of civilians. Tens of thousands of civilians fled the fighting. Impunity for the security forces continued and punishment of those responsible for abuses was rare. A crack-down by the security forces on university students led to illegal detention and torture including rape. Press freedom was curtailed by the intimidation and detention of journalists. The jailing of two lawyers was followed by a lawyers' strike. Human rights defenders and critics of the government remained at risk.

Background

Armed conflict continued throughout the year in Lofa County in northern Liberia between government security forces and the armed opposition group based in Guinea, LURD, which has claimed responsibility for armed attacks on Liberian territory since July 2000. Early in the year Liberia blamed Guinea for providing military and financial support to LURD forces. A high number of civilian deaths and massive displacement has resulted from both direct and indirect attacks on civilians.

In May the UN Security Council with strong support from the USA and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions after a UN panel of experts published a report in December 2000 which contained evidence of the Liberian government's support for rebel forces in Sierra Leone, including by military training and weapons transfers, and its involvement in the trafficking of diamonds from rebel-held areas in Sierra Leone. Compliance was monitored by the UN panel of experts between April and October. In November it published evidence of continuing cooperation between the Sierra Leonean rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and the Liberian security forces, and of links between the timber trade and arms trafficking. The UN Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL) continued to remain silent on human rights issues.

In July the European Union opened consultations on human rights with the Liberian government under the Cotonou Agreement. In November members of the Liberian government made commitments to address key human rights issues.

In August the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination raised concerns about extrajudicial killings, allegations of torture, including rape, and the lack of accountability of perpetrators for these abuses.

A proposal by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to send a peace-keeping force to the areas of Guinea and Sierra Leone which border Liberia was rejected. Under pressure from ECOWAS, the UN and civil society groups from the three countries, a dialogue between Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea began in August.

Violations by the Liberian security forces

Civilians throughout Liberia were subjected to human rights violations committed by the Liberian security forces with nearly absolute impunity.

There were large-scale violations in the context of the war in Lofa County. These included suspected massacres, extrajudicial executions, forcible recruitments into the armed forces, arbitrary detention and torture, including rape.

Extrajudicial executions

In Lofa County, men and boys were reported to have been extrajudicially executed by the security forces on suspicion of backing armed opposition groups. Unlawful killings of civilians by the security forces appeared to have been carried out with the acquiescence of the Liberian authorities which took no action to bring perpetrators to account.

  • In late June, after Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) officers entered Gilima, a town in upper Lofa County near Kolahun, they rounded up and "screened" approximately 50 people. Twenty-five were accused of backing the rebels and taken away by the ATU. Later, fleeing civilians allegedly saw the bodies of at least 10 of those taken away by the ATU, on the side of a road near Kolahun. The victims had been blindfolded and some had their hands tied behind their backs. Eyewitnesses provided consistent accounts linking their deaths to the ATU.
Illegal detention and torture

Thousands of men and boys were arbitrarily detained as "dissidents" in dozens of illegal detention centres, held incommunicado and tortured. They were sometimes held for weeks in holes in the ground. The main detention centres were at the Gbatala military base and at the Liberia Petroleum Mining Company in Bong County, throughout Monrovia in police cells and at the presidential Executive Mansion.
  • In May over 100 men and boys in Bong County in northern Liberia were arrested as suspected dissidents. They were subsequently detained at Gbatala military base for periods of up to a month and reportedly tear gassed, had acid thrown at them, denied water and starved. Several reportedly died as a result.
  • On several occasions in June and July, ATU and police forces reportedly entered a camp for internally displaced people in Bong County, fired in the air, seized men and boys and took them to Gbatala military base where they were severely ill-treated.
Sexual violence

Sexual violence, including rape, continued against hundreds of women and girls. Caught in areas of fighting or fleeing the fighting, they were detained at military checkpoints and gang-raped. Victims included girls of 12 years old. Women were raped on suspicion of backing dissidents, being related to them or being spies. They were also raped while forced into sexual slavery by soldiers at detention centres or in private homes. They were reportedly beaten, kicked or stabbed with bayonets when they resisted rape, and threatened with reprisals if they attempted to lodge a complaint.

The scale of rapes suggested that sexual violence was used as a weapon of war, to instil terror among the civilian population. Victims in some cases identified senior security officers as rapists. The impunity that the security forces enjoyed for rape and other human rights violations continued to be a key factor in allowing rape and other forms of sexual violence to reach alarming proportions.
  • In early June a 17-year-old woman was seized in Vahun district by an ATU officer, detained and gang-raped repeatedly over 10 days. When she was released, her life was threatened if she told anyone.
Human rights abuses by the armed opposition

LURD forces reportedly committed human rights abuses against civilians. Members of the LURD were reported to have deliberately killed and tortured, including by raping women, unarmed civilians suspected of supporting government forces.
  • In late June a 29-year-old man was captured by the LURD while trying to flee the fighting. His hands were tied behind his back. He was detained for several days with two other men and a woman. He reportedly witnessed the deliberate shooting and killing of the two other men on the orders of a high-ranking officer. The woman was reported to have been raped. Both the woman and the man eventually escaped.
Internally displaced people

There was massive displacement of tens of thousands of civilians within Liberia and over the borders to Guinea and Sierra Leone to escape the fighting and human rights abuses. At least five camps had to be created to accommodate the fleeing populations from Lofa County. According to estimates from humanitarian agencies, in April and May as many as 30,000 fled from upper Lofa County to Bong County; in August and September up to 20,000 from Lofa County to Cape Mount County and Gbopolu County, and in November and December up to 20,000 were re-displaced to Bomi County and Monrovia when fighting broke out near Gbopolu.

Internally displaced people were particularly vulnerable to abuses by the Liberian security forces. The government took no action to stop these violations.
  • In April and May, as many as 15,000 fleeing civilians were halted for several weeks at the St Pauls River on the border between Lofa and Bong Counties by the Liberian security forces. Civilians were subjected to violations such as torture, including rape, and forced recruitment into the security forces. There were reportedly numerous deaths from starvation, disease and insanitary conditions. Some people tried to cross the river and drowned. The international humanitarian agencies and the Liberian government agency responsible for internally displaced people were denied access to them by the security forces. In late May the international community organized trucks to bring the people across the river in a three-week operation.
Liberian refugees in the region

Early in the year Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in camps in Guinea came under attack from LURD forces, the RUF and the Guinean security forces. Refugees along the border in Guinea were relocated to camps further from the border. Some were forcibly repatriated to Liberia. Thousands fled to Sierra Leone where they faced abuses in areas controlled by the RUF.

At least 5,000 Liberian refugees fled to Sierra Leone as a result of the Lofa County conflict in the second half of the year. Several thousand more were reportedly in eastern Sierra Leone, along the Liberian border, and had not been registered as refugees by the end of 2001.

Human rights violations outside conflict areas

The security forces continued to enjoy impunity for human rights violations to a large extent. There were no investigations into reports of deaths in police custody or the misuse of lethal force.
  • In November, two Nigerian nationals reportedly died in custody as a result of torture after being arrested on suspicion of stealing jewellery from a deputy government minister. The deputy minister and members of the security forces were subsequently arrested. No charges had been brought but they remained in detention at the end of 2001.
  • In December, a 14-year-old boy in Gbarnga, Bong County, was shot dead by police who subsequently said that he was an armed robber. The Director of Police announced that the officer had been suspended from duty and that an investigation would be held; it had not started by the end of the year.
Threats to critics of the government

Attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers and opposition politicians continued. Others were forced to flee the country.
  • In February Joseph Bartuah, Abdullah Dukuly, Jerome Dalieh and Bobby Tapson, four journalists from the privately-owned newspaper The News, were arrested and charged with espionage after publication of a report criticizing the delayed payment of civil service salaries. In March, dozens of university students and professors were whipped and severely beaten by the security forces during a peaceful protest in Monrovia against the arrests. More than 40 students were arrested. Some were released shortly afterwards without charge, with visible marks of beatings, and at least seven women students were reported to have been raped repeatedly in detention. At least 17 were released over the next three weeks after widespread public protests. In April the university suspended student leaders; most of them fled the country.
  • In April Francis Massaquoi, Minister of Youth and Sports and former leader of the Lofa Defence Force, an armed group active in the civil war, was killed in unexplained circumstances in Lofa County. Reports suggested that he might have been killed because his political influence with government forces in the area was perceived to be a threat to the government.
  • In September Thompson Ade-Bayor, head of Liberia Watch for Human Rights, was illegally detained without charge or trial for 10 days after criticizing the security forces in a published article. The Liberian police reportedly paid fellow inmates to hang him by his feet and beat him.
  • In October Emmanuel Wureh, president of the National Bar Association, was imprisoned for a week after he was found in contempt of court for alleged insulting remarks during court proceedings. Leading Bar Association members Marcus Jones and Ismail Campbel announced a lawyers' boycott in protest and were themselves arrested. The House of Representatives subsequently asked the Minister of Justice to charge them with contempt of the Legislature and to detain them until they apologized to the House and retracted their protest. The legal basis for this process and their detention was unclear. Emmanuel Wureh was released in November and the other lawyers in December.
Most opposition leaders remained outside the country. Others remained in prison or were threatened.
  • Raleigh Seekie, an opposition leader charged with treason with 14 others in August 2000, was still in prison awaiting trial at the end of 2001. Others charged with him had not been arrested.
  • In April veteran politician Togba-Nah Tipoteh said that he and other politicians had received threats for criticizing the international community for giving financial assistance to the government.
AI country reports/visits

Reports
  • Liberia: War in Lofa County does not justify killing, torture and abduction (AI Index: AFR 34/003/2001)
  • Liberia: Killings, torture and rape continue in Lofa County (AI Index: AFR 34/009/2001)
  • Liberia: Lack of justice for students, victims of torture, including rape (AI Index: AFR 34/010/2001)
Visits

AI delegates visited Liberia in February and November to carry out research into the human rights situation.

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