Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Liberia: A Practitioner's Reflection from the Field

Abstract

Liberia presents an important opportunity for civil society, national government and the international community to cooperate in rebuilding a post-conflict country in a way that addresses the essential and elemental basis for building a just and durable peace. In other words, the country is poised to be a potential ‘success story,’ one that could set new trends in how African people negotiate a post-conflict coexistence on the basis of shared values, popular participation and economic and social justice. The role of civil society in particular in this process of reconstruction, and specifically issues of transitional justice, is central to ensuring that policies have broad input amongst the Liberian population, all of whom have been directly impacted by the war. This article outlines the country's trajectory from conflict to peace, the challenges of addressing the crimes of the past, the risks to newly established democratic institutions posed by a truncated or incomplete transitional justice program and the role of Liberian civil society both broadly in a newly democratic Liberia as well as specifically in regards to the establishment and functioning of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.