In Re: Turn Them In

March 24, 2017
In Re: Turn Them In
Her Excellency
Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of the Republic of Liberia &
Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
C/o Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs
Executive Mansion
P.O. Box 9001
Capitol Hill, Monrovia
Republic of Liberia
Dear President Sirleaf,
On behalf of the Africa Center for Law and Human Rights (ACLHR), we offer greetings to you and the hardworking people of Liberia and Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Through this letter, the ACLHR endeavors to formally request of your government the application of justice without pause to those individuals accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia. We are respectfully requesting that the Liberian Government summons and embrace the courage to list, submit and surrender for indictment and prosecution certain citizens of Liberia believed to have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and economic crimes in Liberia and against the people of Liberia from 24 December1989 to 23 August 2003.
Madam President and Chairman of the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, Africa Center for Law and Human Rights (ACLHR) is imploring your Government to request the international community to work with the Government and people of Liberia to support the establishment of an UN-backed War Crimes Court on Liberia to indict, arrest, and subsequently submit for prosecution Liberia’s most notorious warlords and their principal deputies. The ACLHR does affirm that the following Liberians and their deputies did consciously and purposely facilitate and commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia from 24 December 1989 to 23 August 2003, as documented and published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) on 29 June 2009. ACLHR endeavors for all indictments to correspond with each individual’s alleged participation in committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and Economic Crimes in Liberia. Specifically, ACLHR is referring to the following Liberian citizens:
1) General Prince Y. Johnson, former Leader of the INPFL 
2) Prof. Alhaji G.V. Kromah, former Leader of ULIMO-K
3) Mr. Sekou D. Konneh, former Leader of LURD
4) Dr. George S. Boley (PhD), former Leader of LPC
5) Mr. Thomas Yaya Nimley, former Leader of MODEL
6) Mr. Charles G. Taylor, former Leader of the NPFL
Your Excellency, this lawful request and submission from the Africa Center for Law and Human Rights is chiefly reinforced and sustained by key provisions in both Liberia’s domestic and international laws:
1) African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
2) Practice, Protocols and Directives of ECOWAS
3) Protocol on the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights
4) Protocol on the Creation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights 
5) Protocol on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
6) Universal Declaration on Human Rights
7) International Human Rights Law
8) International Humanitarian Law
9) The Rome Statute
10) Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women
11) African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
12 Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
13) Penal Law – Title 26 – Liberian Code of Laws Revised, and
14) Constitution of the Republic of Liberia
For knowingly committing murder, torture, the breach of peace, and crimes against humanity in Liberia (an infringement absolutely inimical to the rule of law and human rights compliance in Liberia and Africa), Africa Center for Law and Human Rights believes that your Government’s indebtedness to Liberia and the people of Africa – particularly the Authority and Member States of ECOWAS – is to list, submit, and surrender the people named in this letter to an UN-backed and established War Crimes Court on Liberia directly, prior to your parting the office of presidency in Liberia. The ACLHR asserts that failure to do so on the part of your Government would elicit a high cost in terms of failing to protect the value of life and humanity.
We encourage you and your Government to align with the UN in establishing a War Crimes Court to avail the Liberian past of an unjust debt that has gone unpaid for nearly two decades. The ACLHR advises that your Government enforces and overseas that those persons we have listed as Liberia’s most notorious warlords and their principal deputies be submitted and surrendered to face prosecution and justice for their violent deeds in the Republic of Liberia and ultimately against the people of Liberia.
To not uphold Liberia’s domestic and international laws’ responsibility, to turn a blind eye to injustice on your home soil, would be to walk away from the privilege and opportunity of protecting human and peoples’ rights compliance in Africa.
Thanks for your time and usual consideration.
Respectfully Yours,
________________________________________________________________________
Frederick A.B. Jayweh, Esq., B.A., LL.B., LL.M
Counsellor-At-Law & Executive Director, Africa Center for Law and Human Rights (ACLHR)