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originally published by Human Rights Watch (Monrovia) – Liberian President Joseph Boakai should follow through on his commitment to justice and human rights by renewing an executive order key to establishing a war crimes court to address accountability for civil war-era crimes in the country, six human rights groups said today. The order, signed on May 2, 2024, is set to expire on May 1, 2025.  The groups, Liberian and international nongovernmental organizations, are Advocates for Human Rights, Civitas Maxima, Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia, Global Justice Center, Global Justice and Research Project, and Human Rights Watch.  “Liberia’s quest to bring closure for victims of civil war atrocities, and ensure their access to justice, remains a major priority,” said Adama Dempster, secretary-general of the Civil Society Human Rights Platform of Liberia. “We call for government and international support to ensure the establishment of the court.”  Widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law characterized Liberia’s two brutal armed conflicts, which took place between 1989 and 2003. They included summary executions, massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, mutilation and torture, and forced conscription and use of child combatants. Nobody has faced criminal investigation or prosecution in Liberia for serious crimes committed during the civil wars. The only steps toward justice for serious crimes have been cases prosecuted abroad.  The country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in its final 2009 report, recommended the creation of an extraordinary criminal court, a hybrid court composed of Liberian and international judges, prosecutors, and other staff with a mandate to try those allegedly responsible for committing serious crimes. As the groups highlighted in a recent submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council in the context of Liberia’s upcoming November 2025 Universal Periodic Review, 16 years later, Liberia has yet to implement this critical recommendation. The May 2024 executive order established an office to “investigate, design, and prescribe the methodology, mechanisms, and the process” for the establishment of a war crimes court and a national anti-corruption court (Office for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia). “President Boakai promised Liberians accountability for wartime atrocities, but for this to become a reality, he needs to renew the executive order,” said Michelle Reyes Milk, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch. “President Boakai should also work with the legislature to replace the executive order with legislation so the office can work sustainably to develop the framework for establishing the war and economic crimes court.” Over the course of 2024, the Boakai administration took further steps toward setting up the office. President Boakai made a public commitment to advance the process during a speech to the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2024. Additional steps included the withdrawal of the appointment of the first executive director for the office following strong reservations voiced by victim and civil society groups and the more consultative process involved in the second appointment, resulting in the selection of Jallah Barbu as the new executive director. President Boakai also wrote to the UN secretary-general requesting assistance in establishing a court. However, progress remains limited. In January 2025, the groups wrote to President Boakai calling on the government to take necessary measures towards the establishment of the court. The organizations highlighted the need to ensure the office has requisite staffing and budgetary support and called on the office to adopt an action plan, or “roadmap,” to advance preparation for the court’s establishment.  The plan should address the model on which the war crimes court will be designed; the composition of the court; a clear procedure for the election and appointment of its officials; a proposed budget; and efforts needed for the adoption of a statute, among other issues, and have clear action points and intended outcomes.  Despite the challenges in the process, prospects for a war crimes court continue to offer thousands of victims a promise of justice that has long evaded them, the groups said. President Boakai should renew the executive order and ensure sufficient funding is in place so that the necessary work to establish the court can accelerate.  “A comprehensive roadmap that can ensure the office has both the resources and mandate to fulfill its key mission—establishing a sustainable war crimes court—is therefore vital and urgent,” said Hassan Bility, executive director of the Global Justice and Research Project. “We urge the office to move swiftly in the adoption and implementation of such a plan of action.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— March 29, 2017 [NEW YORK, NY] - Yesterday, Jordan welcomed Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s President, for the Arab League’s annual summit. Bashir is attending despite two longstanding arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his actions in Darfur, including rape, murder, torture and extermination. He has been charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and has been a fugitive from the ICC since 2009. Jordan, as a party to the ICC’s Rome Statute, has an obligation to arrest Bashir and turn him over to the court. Jordan also has obligations as a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to cooperate with international criminal proceedings to hold genocidaires accountable. In 2015, South Africa similarly failed to arrest Bashir when he attended an African Union summit. “When countries like Jordan and South Africa allow Bashir to visit and fail to arrest him, they are not only in violation of their obligations under the Rome Statute to cooperate with the ICC, but their obligations under the Genocide Convention as well,” says Akila Radhakrishnan, Vice-President & Legal Director of the Global Justice Center. “The International Court of Justice, in its 2007 decision in the Bosnia-Serbia Genocide case, found that when Serbia failed to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and arrest Ratko Mladic when he was on Serbian territory, they violated their obligations to punish under the Genocide Convention. What is happening in Jordan today is no different—Jordan's failure to take action puts it in violation of its international obligations. GJC joins Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Arrest Bashir Campaign and other NGOs in calling for Jordan and the international community to take immediate action to end impunity for war crimes.” Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, over 1 million refugees have poured into Jordan. “Jordan is at the center of the Syrian refugee crisis and has voiced disappointment in the past about the UN Security Council’s failure to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC, says Stephanie Johanssen, EU and UN Director for the Global Justice Center. “With the Syrian war now entering its 6th year, Jordan knows first-hand the dangers of shielding a war criminal for the sake of political interests. These are precisely the actions that undermine the efficiency of the ICC, we cannot have countries proclaim support for international justice on the one hand, and then collaborate or mingle with the ICC’s most wanted.” The failure to arrest and prosecute war criminals undermines the interests of justice and signals to others that they can commit these crimes with impunity. “Allowing war criminal to thrive while depriving their victims of justice undermines the very system these States themselves created to hold perpetrators accountable,” says Radhakrishnan. “Victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed around the world require justice—whether committed by Bashir, Assad, ISIS or the Burmese military. Justice cannot come second to political convenience.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—June 17, 2016 [NEW YORK, NY] – Yesterday, the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria concluded that ISIS is committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Yazidi people. The report, “They Came to Destroy”: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, recognizes that the genocide is ongoing and is being committed not just through mass killings but also through gendered non-killing crimes such as rape and sexual violence. “The report confirms not only that over 3,200 women and children remain in captivity, but that they are daily subjected to genocidal acts,” says Global Justice Center (GJC) president Janet Benshoof, “it’s time for the international community to act on its obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent, suppress, and punish genocide.” In December 2015, GJC sent a brief to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in support of Yazda and Free Yezidi Foundation’s submission, asking the ICC to investigate ISIS’s gender-based crimes against Yazidi women and girls. “As our submission stated and the COI’s report confirms, genocide is being carried out along sharply divided gender lines,” says Benshoof. “Any actions to prevent and punish these genocidal acts must take into account the role that gender plays in the way genocide is being carried out.” The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales has been working since the summer of 2015 to raise awareness of the genocide of the Yazidis and breaches of international human rights law. Kirsty Brimelow QC, Chair: “The ongoing genocide of the Yazidi people is one of the worst crimes of our time. Human rights are global and States are obliged to protect the Yazidis from further killings and sexual enslavement. To date, no State has started investigations with a view to prosecuting those concerned in this genocide and no court has seized jurisdiction. The World can no longer watch this carnage and international law must be implemented.” The COI urges the international community, including the United Nations and its member states, to act on its obligations under the Genocide Convention as a matter of urgency. This must include measures to rescue and save women and children currently in ISIS captivity and hold states and individuals accountable. “Genocide prosecutions are enormously important to deter and delegitimize ISIS atrocities,” says Benshoof. “All captured ISIS fighters should be investigated for genocide crimes, including crimes of rape, abduction, and sexual slavery against Yazidi women and girls. These women and girls deserve justice. Naming the crimes is an important first step, but there must be more. There must be action and prosecutions.” For more information contact: Stephanie Olszewski (New York), Global Justice Center, solszewski@globaljusticecenter.net +1.212.725.6530 ext. 211 Ed Gillett (London), Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, coordination@barhumanrights.org.uk +44 (0) 7754 197862

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—November 5, 2015 [GENEVA & NEW YORK] – Tomorrow, an alleged war criminal accused of torture, murder, enslavement, pillage, rape, and forcible population transfer, is scheduled to present Myanmar’s human rights record at the United Nations. In response, the Global Justice Center (GJC) and Justice Trust released an indictment charging Lieutenant General Ko Ko with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture, including rape and other sexual violence crimes. The indictment expands on the 2014 findings by Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic that clear evidence exists to arrest and prosecute Ko Ko for his command role in brutal army offences against the civilian population in the Karen ethnic area. “Despite states’ duties to act when a country terrorizes and tortures its own citizens with impunity, Myanmar remains a protected ‘law free zone.’ Victims of heinous military crimes, including ethnic women and girls, are entitled to justice in their lifetimes,” said GJC President Janet Benshoof. Local efforts to hold Ko Ko accountable have been stonewalled, and advocates for justice retaliated against. Undeterred, a coalition of more than 500 civil society groups in Myanmar, supported by international human rights organizations, are urging the international community to take steps to hold Ko Ko criminally accountable for past and ongoing crimes. The indictment also documents his responsibility as Minister of Home Affairs for systemic human rights abuses committed by the police since 2012. “Under Lieutenant General Ko Ko’s leadership, police forces have engaged in a widespread and consistent pattern of unlawful actions, including a phosphorus weapons attack against monks and villagers protesting the Letpadaung copper mine, and brutal beatings and arbitrary arrests of students,” said Justice Trust Executive Director Roger Normand. “Yet national level efforts to secure justice are blocked by the military and the judiciary at every turn.” Despite the much-touted transition to a nominally civilian government in 2011, the impunity enjoyed by Ko Ko demonstrates the military’s continued iron grip on power. Despite national elections on November 8, this is not likely to change any time soon, as the military-designed 2008 Constitution enables the military to operate independent of any civilian authority. Although, due to UN immunities, this indictment cannot be used to arrest Ko Ko in Geneva tomorrow, it can be used as the basis for future prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction, including in the International Criminal Court should the Security Council refer the situation of Myanmar to the ICC as it has with Sudan and Libya. The Global Justice Center (GJC) works for peace, justice, and security by enforcing international laws that protect human rights and promote gender equality. Visit www.globaljusticecenter.net. Follow @GlobalJusticeC Justice Trust partners with local lawyers and communities in Myanmar to bring human rights cases and campaigns, primarily at the domestic level. Visit www.justicetrust.net. Follow @JusticeTrustMM The indictment of Lt.-Gen. Ko Ko is available here. The domestic CSO petition is available here. The international support statement is available here. For more information contact: Akila Radhakrishnan (New York), akila@globaljusticecenter.net, +1.212.725.6530 ext. 203 Roger Normand (Bangkok) roger.normand@justicetrust.net, +66.84.524.1133

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 12, 2014 [NEW YORK, NY] – Sixty-five years ago today the United States signed the Geneva Conventions. It is a shame the U.S. now violates the rights of girls and women raped in armed conflict under the Conventions by denying them access to safe abortion services in humanitarian zones. As the Global Justice Center (GJC) stated in an open letter to President Obama released today , the White House has the power to right this egregious wrong through executive action; yet the President has inexplicably failed to do so thus far. To ensure the U.S. is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions, President Obama can and should issue an executive order restoring the rape, incest and life endangerment exceptions to U.S. abortion restrictions on foreign aid and ensure the rights of women and girls in conflict zones around the world under the Geneva Conventions. In the letter, GJC President Janet Benshoof writes, “Commendably, the US is the largest humanitarian aid donor in the world; however, for those women and girls who become pregnant from war rape, US aid extends, rather than alleviates, their suffering.” GJC was the first organization to point out the U.S.’ failure to adhere to the common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which provides non-discriminatory medical care guarantees for the “wounded and sick” in armed conflict. For girls and women raped in war, this includes abortion. Instead, due to an overly restrictive interpretation of the Helms Amendment, U.S. policy forces young girls and women impregnated through brutal war rape to risk their lives to bear the child of their rapists by denying them access to safe abortion services. This can mean a death sentence for many of them, especially since more than half of rape victims in armed conflict are children. Leading an international effort to ensure access to safe abortion services for war rape victims globally, GJC started the August 12th Campaign, its name serving as a reminder to the U.S. of its obligations under the Geneva Conventions. Since 2011, the Campaign has gathered letters representing over 3,500 groups sent to the White House urging President Obama to lift the abortion restrictions. In addition, several countries and the European Parliament have joined GJC in calling for an end to this inhumane policy. But the most powerful letters are from women on the ground in conflict zones every day, including one from Justine Masika Bihamba, co-founder of Synergie des Femmes pour les Victimes de Violences Sexuelles (Women’s Synergie for Victims of Sexual Violence), the Congo-based organization that works to support and empower survivors of sexual violence in conflict. In Ms. Bihamba’s words, the U.S. abortion restrictions “represent an impediment to equal justice for girls and women raped in conflict” and she urges the U.S. to “stop inflicting additional harm to these vulnerable victims.” We hope President Obama is listening to the voices of these women. He has the moral and legal duty to lift the abortion restrictions through the power of his pen and restore their rights. ### For more information contact Akila Radhakrishnan, Legal Director, akila@globaljusticecenter.net, 212.725.6530, ext. 203 or Sarah Vaughan, Senior Development & Communications Officer, svaughan@globaljusticecenter.net, 212.725.6530 ext. 204. Download PDF