To Compete or to Complement? Assessing the Relationship between the Sierra Leone Special Court and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

2014 ◽  
pp. 481-502
Author(s):  
Alpha Sesay
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Relationship

The pressures of getting it right: Expertise and victims’ voices in the work of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-319
Author(s):  
Anne Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Victim Participation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract∞ This article contributes to scholarship on power, agency and ownership in professional transitional justice. It explores and details the relationship between ‘professional’ agency arising from recognized expertise and ‘unprofessional’ voices relaying lived experiences, concerns and needs. I approach this relationship via a microperspective on the work of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2002-2004), specifically its work on women and sexual violence, which the commission was mandated to pay special attention to. Based on interviews and rich archival materials, I show how this work was driven by the notion that there was a right way of dealing with women and sexual violence. To avoid mistakes, commissioners and staff members demanded and relied on recognized expertise. This led to a marginalization of victims’ voices. I argue that, to some degree at least, such marginalization belongs to professional transitional justice and will persist despite improved victim participation.

Child soldiering on trial: an interdisciplinary analysis of responsibility in the Lord's Resistance Army

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée Nicole Souris
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Lord's Resistance Army ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Lord’S Resistance Army ◽  
Child Soldiering

‘How can we tell what happened to us? There are no words to describe what we have witnessed. What we saw, what we heard, what we did, and how it changed our lives, is beyond measure. We were murdered, raped, amputated, tortured, mutilated, beaten, enslaved and forced to commit terrible crimes.’ (Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report for the Children of Sierra Leone)

scholarly journals Victim Participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: Challenges to the Civil Party Framework and Lessons for the Future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Laura Neale
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
East Timor ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Victim Participation ◽  
Khmer Rouge Regime

<p>This paper examines the victim participation framework at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Court), established to deal with crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime. The background which has led to the creation of the ECCC will be explained, before the paper will look at the way the Court is structured to include civil parties. The Court has consistently limited the civil parties’ role since its establishment and these limitations and the justifications are outlined in the paper. Solutions in the context of the ECCC are then considered, although due to the political environment, no changes in favour of victim rights are likely. Future models are considered, with the benefits of a Truth and Conciliation Commission’s analysed by looking at Sierra Leone and East Timor, as examples of successful frameworks where both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceeded simultaneously. This paper concludes that although every situation requiring a judicial response will be different, the option of having both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can fulfil multiple victim needs.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document