Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1992
LIBERIA
Liberia remained a nation divided geographically and factionally as a result of the
1989-1990 civil war. Despite sustained efiorts, peace initiatives of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to break the complicated political
stalemate remained without success. In late August, renewed lighting between
Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and the United Liberation
Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO), a Sierra Leone-based group of
anti-NPFL Liberians and former civilian and military officials, broke a cease-fire
which had prevailed for over 20 months and led to a resumption of more generalized
violence. On October 15, the NPFL attacked the capital city of Monrovia, which was
defended by the ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) and administered
by the Interim Government of National Unity (IGfNU) under President Amos
Sawyer. The attack disrupted life in the city and its suburbs as filters of the warring
factions, especially the NPFL, committed many serious human rights violations,
including killing innocent Liberians and foreign nationals. ECOMOG eventualW
was able to reestablish order in and around the city.
Presidential and national legislative elections could not be scheduled because of
continuing unsettled conditions. Consequently, as in 1991, Liberia was not ruled by
a constitutionally elected, unified government. The IGNU, a coalition of political
parties, headed by President Amos Sawyer, administered only Monrovia and its immediate
environs. Roughly half of the country's current population was believed to
reside in this area within the defensive perimeter of ECOMOG. Following the August
fighting in Cape Mount and Bomi Counties, approximately 20,000 additional
persons sought refiige in Monrovia. Most of the displaced, inclumng a large number
of Sierra Leoneans, remained in the city. The Charles Taylor-led National Patriotic
Reconstruction Assembly Government (NPRAG), based on and militarily supported
by the NPFL, initially controlled the remaining national territory. However, in August
ULIMO captured and occupied the countiys two southwestern counties. There
were two other warring factions, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia
(INPFL), led by Prince Johnson, and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), the remnants
of former President Samuel Doe's army. Both of these factions were encamped
in Monrovia where they retained arms within their respective camps. Many AFL
soldiers reportedlyJoined forces in September with ULIMO to fight the NPFL. Several
units of the AFL performed professionally in assisting ECOMOG defend Monrovia
when the NPFL attacked. However, renegade AFL elements committed serious
abuses. The INPFL was effectively dissolved as a result of the attack on Monrovia.
One INPFL faction returned to the NPFL while fighters loyal to Prince Johnson
joined him in surrendering to ECOMOG.
ECOMOG assumed a large portion of the police responsibility in Monrovia because
the IGNU police force, reconstituted in 1991, remained mostly unarmed and
ineffective. However, the IGNU reactivated an armed special security unit in 1992.
NPFL military and police forces were responsible for security in territory under
NPFL control, and to a larce extent, both the INPFL and AFL carried out this function
within their camps. Liberia's total military expenditures for 1989, the last year
for which the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency conducted a detailed
analysis, were $58 million.
The civil war-ravaged economy, which is based primarily on iron ore, rubber, timber,
diamonds, and gold also reflects the political division between IGNU and NPFL
areas. There was sli^t economic recovery in 199 1 and incremental progress in 1992
unt;il widespread hostilities resumed. However, the year's gross domestic product
was estimated at only 40 percent of the prewar levels. The economic division was
further exacerbated in January, when the IGNU introduced new currency, which
the NPFL outlawed in its area. The IGNU also imposed an embargo, which lasted
for several months, on transport of nonessential goods into NPFL territory.
ECOWAS/ECOMOG imposed strict sanctions on NPFL territory during the last
Quarter of the year, effectively cutting off exports and foreigii exchange earnings to
the NPFL. Massive emergency operations by the United Nations, as well as by the
United States and other Western-based relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations,
brought food or other humanitarian assistance to a majority of Liberians.
These operations continued throughout 1992 but were periodically suspended in
areas outside of Monrovia because of intermittent ULIMO-NPFL fighting as well as
by harassment of relief workers, primarily by the NPFL.
Before the August hostilities, human rights, although widely circumscribed, were
not abused on the massive scale experienced during the heidit of the civU war.
However, the ULIMO-NPFL fighting in western Liberia and the October 15 attack
. on Monrovia rekindled memories of the brutal incidents witnessed during the war136
torn period of 1989-1990. While all parties professed to honor the Constitution,
which is modeled on that of the United States, the document's human rights provisions
were often selectively igjnored and unevenly applied. Some IGNU security personnel,
including members oT the Special Antiterronst Unit, and, to a much lesser
extent, individual ECOMOG soldiers, committed excesses while responding to the
wave of violent crimes which affected Monrovia during the year. All of the warring
factions—the NPFL being the most frequent and egregious ofiender—were implicated
in serious human rights violations, e.g., use of excessive force, arbitrary detentions,
forced conscription, torture, or summary executions.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing.
Numerous cases of extrajudicial killing
were reported. While professing adherence to the rule of law, the NPFL leadership
permitted and even encouraged such acts. Credible reports indicated that
scores of IGNU ofllcials and employees were summarily executed because of their
affiliation with the Interim Government when the NPFL attacked Monrovia's outlying
suburbs in October. During this period, five American citizen nuns were killed
by NPFL troops in a Monrovia suburt). The NPFL was also accused of executing civilians
who had been forcibly moved from the Monrovia suburbs to military camps
in NPFL territory. In August NPFL leader Charles Taylor was widely reported to
have ordered approximately 50 NPFL members to be sunmiarily executed following
an aborted coupattempt. There were frequent and credible reports throughout the
year that the NPFL summarily executed dozens of men alleged to be ULIMO infiltrators.
Several NPFL soldiers, including four or five hi^-ranking officers, were executed
without trial in September for desertion or suspicion of collaborating with
ULIMO. At Buchanan in March, thousands protested tne execution of six men by
NPFL troops.
Few NPFL soldiers were arrested in 1992 for committing extrajudicial killings,
and reportedly most of those were released without trial or punishment. However,
one high-ranking NPFL officer, Sam Larto, was executed in Februaiy after being
convicted in a secret court martial for killing a captured INPFL soldier. INPFL leader
Prince Johnson admitted executing at least two soldiers of his own movement,
including INPFL Deputy Chief of Staff Gbomi Toma, for possessing IGNU five-dollar
notes which Johnson declared illegal on his Caldwell base. There were unconfirmed
reports that Johnson killed several other soldiers for relatively minor infractions of
"military law" or insubordination. However, the INPFL leader maintained that soldiers
were executed only afl«r having been tried and found guilty under INPFL
military procedures. Nonetheless, details of the purported trials were never made
public.
The IGNU publicly condemned all forms of extrajudicial and political killings.
However, aft«r the NPFL attacked Monrovia in Octooer, renegade elements in the
AFL (which is under some degree of IGNU control), sometimes in cooperation with
ULIMO, formed vigilante squads which reportedly engaged in ethnic score-settling
by summarily executing several members of the Nimban community suspected oi
NPFL or INPFL affiliations. (Nimbans were believed to predominate in the NPFL
and INPFUL.) Two AFL soldiers faced courts-martial for killing civilians in November.
One of the soldiers was executed aft«r being convicted in a 1-day trial, and the
trial of the other was delayed. When ULIMO captured Bomi County from the NPFL
in August, ULIMO irregulars summai^ executed several civilians for allegedly
being NPFL collaborators or housing NrFL soldiers. In many instances, the civilians
nad been intimidated into assisting or providing quarters to the NPFL fighters
when its fighters controlled the area.
b. Disappearance.
Disappearances were not believed to be common during the
first 9 months of 1992, but there were several reports (of varying degrees of credibility)
of young men disappearing while in the custody of the NPFL or ULIMO, possibly
victims of forced conscription or execution. Very little new information surfaced
about persons missing as a result of the war. Incidents of disappearance significantly
increased aft«r the October 15 NPFL attack on Monrovia. Hundreds of suburban
residents could not be located, and there are credible reports that numbers were
unwillingly moved to sites in NPFL territory. Others are feared to have been killed.
c. Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.—
The Liberian Constitution prohibits torture and degrading treatment. While not attaining
the same level as tnat of the civil war period, serious incidents of inhuman
treatment persisted in 1992. NPFL troops, during the attack on Monrovia in October,
were reported to have forcibly abducted scores of Monrovia area residents, including
several hundred orphaned children, relocating them in NPFL military
camps. Human rights activists reported that escapees from these camps have alleged
physical and psychological mistreatment ana squalid conditions—inadequate
food, shelter, and medical care. Credible reports indicated that several persons may
have died of starvation or lack of medical care at these locations.
NPFL soldiers were widely accused of severely beating and torturing persons suspected
of being ULIMO operatives. Civilian travelers were frequently the victims of
mistreatment and extortion at the hands of NPFL fighters at the numerous NPFL
check^ints along the country's major roadways. Civilians, even several high ranking
NPRAG oflicials, were harassed or physically abused at these checkpoints, often
by teenage or younger boys attempting to extort money or conflscate property. Some
civilians were beaten or forced to disrobe; many others suffered threats of violence
or other forms of intimidation.
There were credible reports that NPFL personnel operated involuntary labor
camps in Grand Gedeh County and subjected inmates to severe beatings for refusing
to work or for attempting to escape. NPFL leader Charles Taylor publicly condemned
harassment of civilians, but there is evidence that many guilty NPFL soldiers
were not disciplined for these abuses. The NPFL leadership seemed to have
the capacity to deter excesses but chose to discipline offending troops only when expedient.
NPFL leaders, after a major conference of their supporters in late April at
which attendees complained of NPFL harassment of civilians, arrested two generals
and demoted other oflicers for mistreating inhabitants of Grand Gedeh County. It
is unclear whether the two generals were tried.
In January INPFL leader Prince Johnson detained Isaac Bantu, President of the
Press Union of Liberia, and another journalist for several days. The journalists were
held in a crude, unlit one-room cell without sanitary facilities. They were shackled
and subjected to physical and psychological abuse; Johnson reportedly aimed a pistol
at Bantu's head, threatening to kill him. The journalists were released only after
pressure from prominent Liberians and the international community. In another incident,
credible sources claim that Prince Johnson shot a young INPFL soldier for
wearing a red bandana, a color which Johnson associated with the rival NPFL.
Reli£u[)le sources claimed that, in several instances, IGNU police beat criminal suspects
in their custody. Credible sources also allege that ECOMOG soldiers weiie occasionally
seen mistreating criminal suspects as well as harassing individuals at
ECOMOG checkpoints in ftlonrovia. Methodist Bishop Arthur Kulah, a Nimban, was
beaten on at least two occasions, publicly humiliated, and harassed by AFL troops
who alleged he was collaborating with the NPFL.
Conditions in the nation's jails were hazardous to life and health prior to the civil
war and were even more dismal in the mostly makeshift jails of 1992. Prisoners
were often denied medical care or contact with family; cells or rooms were small,
crowded, and filthy. Detainees were often housed with convicted criminals. Inadequate
diet and lack of time outside cells were widespread problems. The IGNU has
not given prison reform a high priority, and there has been little, if any, attempt
to discipline the guard force. However, prison conditions on the INPFL Caldwell
Base and in NPFL territory were more severe, according to credible sources. The
INPFL held its prisoners in makeshift, substandard cells; cell guards and senior
INPFL officials, including Prince Johnson, allegedly tortured them freqpiently. Some
prisoners were held incommunicado, and access to medical attention was often denied.
Similar allegations of inhuman treatment of prisoners have been leveled at the
NPFL. Reports indicate that detainees often were neld in crude, makeshift facilities
rather than in regular prisons or jails. Arbitrary beatings and torture were reported
to be common.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The 1985 Constitution prohibits arbitrary
arrests, but in the aftermath of the war, there were few functioning institutional
safeguards preventing the practice. The Constitution provides for the rights
of the accused, including warrants for arrests and the right of detainees either to
be charzed or to be released within 48 hours. These provisions were widely ignored.
IGNU President Sawyer repeatedly has affirmed that his administration would respect
the 1985 Constitution's procedural safeguards, and in practice he has attempted
to do so. However, administrative inefficiency, delays in appointing judges,
and poorly trained criminal justice personnel resulted in some detainees being held
for long periods without trial or chai;ges. In practice, police officers had wide discretion
to make arrests, and this authority was often abused. Arrests regularly took
place without probable cause. Some human rights monitors reported that police officers
often disregarded the rights of detainees. At times they did not inform detainees
of the charges against them. Police occasionally coerced confessions from persons
illegally detained. Additionally, detentions by the ECOMOG peacekeepers did not
always satisfy constitutional standards.
Liberian criminal procedure provides the right to bail, and the bail system functioned
relatively well in Monrovia. The law also allows for the writ of habeas corpus,
which at times was employed, as in March when a noted human rights attorney secured
the release of two clients implicated in, but not formally charged with, the
homicide of a former INPFL official.
Arbitrary arrests were commonplace in NPFL territory. NPFL soldiers and police
officers had almost unbridled power to make warrantless arrests, and they often exercised
that power capriciously. Hundreds of persons reportedly were detained on
spurious grounds or without charge for periods ranging irom several hours to several
weeks. Throughout the year, the NPFL forcibly detained Liberian nationals,
several foreign national relief workers, and missionaries, often accusing them of
being spies.
Detainees in NPFL territory were most often not informed of their legal rights.
The right to habeas corpus remained suspended, and access to baU was basically
unavailable. A Monrovia-based attorney was detained for several days simply for
raising an objection in an NPFL court.
Credible sources indicated that the INPFL periodically detained persons on vague
or spurious charges. The detention of press union President Isaac Bantu gained the
most notoriety, but the INPFL also detained at least two IGNU police onicers who
had entered the INPFL base to investigate a crime committed in Monrovia. The
INPFL had no regular police force or court system. BaU and habeas corpus were
unavailable. Release depended primarily on the whim of INPFL leader Johnson,
who could at times be influenced by the intervention of important persons or organizations.
Continuing a practice begun lastyear, undisciplined elements of the AFL periodically
detained and beat former NPFL fighters who had deserted to Monrovia, as
well as civilians deemed to be "NPFL sympathizers." After the NPFL's attack on
Monrovia, the AFL and IGNU security forces detained well over 100 NPFL fighters.
Some detainees may have been killed or mistreated. Many detentions were without
probable cause and were based on ethnic discrimination. Several prisoners were detained
because of body scarification identifying them with certain ethnic groups. In
December the AFL announced that it had released 100 detainees.
During the year, there were no reported instances of any Liberians being subjected
to forced, exile.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
Liberia's legal system is closely modeled on that
of the United States, with the Supreme Court at its apex. Before the civil war, the
system afforded little protection in practice for defendants, because of corruption
among court officials, lack of training, and executive interference. By mid- 1990, the
system had completely collapsed along with the rest of civil authority, with justice
in the hands of military commanders of the warring factions.
In 1991 the IGNU slowly began to reconstitute the court system in the Monrovia
area. It reestablished several magistrate courts in Monrovia, and swore into office
new circuit court judges. In September 1992, the only court with jurisdiction to hear
theft cases was finally reestablished. The right to due process and a public trial was
respected in Monrovia, but corruption in the judiciary was a recurrent problem cited
by numan rights monitors, the press, and members of the bar. The AFL formed
boards of inquiry to investigate civilians suspected of collaborating with the NPFL.
Proceedings were not public, and adherance to due process could not be confirmed.
Under tne auspices of the ECOWAS peace process, the IGNU and the NPFL
agreed on the creation of a five-member ad hoc Supreme Court in September 1991.
In March 1992, the NPRAG and IGNU agreed that the Court should have the full
jurisdiction provided by the Constitution lor the Supreme Court, and it began hearing
cases.
Although the NPFL also partially reactivated the court system in areas under its
control, in practice legal and judicial protections were almost totally lacking. There
were reports that the NPFL authorities unilaterally imposed capital punishment for
alleged armed thefts. Those who were tried by the courts were not always guaranteed
fundamental fairness. Human rights observers questioned the independence of
the judiciary in NPFL territory.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence.—Serious
abuses of privacy by soldiers of all of'^the warring factions continued in 1992. AFL
soldiers committed many robberies in the Monrovia area. ULIMO and AFL soldiers
commandeered vehicles and engaged in widespread looting in suburban areas abandoned
after the NPFL attacked Monrovia in October. They continued illegally to occupy
some private homes. NPFL irregulars also engaged in looting in the Monrovia
suburbs which came under their temporary control during the attack.
The situation regarding interference with person or property in NPFL territory
was abysmal. Throughout NPFL territory, but particularly in the western counties,
NPFL soldiers regularly demanded food and personal possessions from village residents
and often robbed and physically abused citizens, particularly at checkpoints.
Confiscation of private homes and vehicles was common. To escape the harassment,
many Liberians moved their families to remote areas. INPFL soldiers guarding the
entrance to the Caldwell Base, where several thousand civiliaDS live, also extorted
money and abused people.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in Internal Conflicts.—
Following the November 1990 cease-fire, fighting between the warring factions
declined, but the ULIMO offensive and the NPFL response in western Liberia
in late August 1992 threatened a return to generalized, and possibly ethnically
based, hostilities. While the Krahn/Mandingo-i^uenced ULIMO and the Gio/Manodominated
NPFL skirmished in western Uberia, both groups caused more harm to
noncombatants than to each other as they indiscriminately ransacked villages,
abused populations, and confiscated scant food supplies. Although reports of NPFL
abuses were more numerous, credible sources claimed that both ULIMO and the
NPFL executed innocent civilians, usually young men, on the mere suspicion that
the victims belonged to the rival group. Because ULIMO was based in Sierra Leone,
the NPFL particularly mistreated the Sierra Leonean refugees living in western Liberia.
In August over 20,000 persons fled to Monrovia to escape thie ULEMO-NPFL fighting
and mistreatment from both sides. There were credible reports that the NPFL
killed scores of civilians during counterattacks in September against ULIMO positions
in Bomi County. Several unconfirmed estimates placed the cumulative death
toll from these attacks at close to 400 persons. The depradations in August were
a prelude to the October 15 NPFL attack on Monrovia. There were credible reports
that the NPFL troops plundered several villages and engaged in other abuses.
IGNU claimed that in some areas NPFL troops went from house to house in a frenzy
of violence, executing hundreds of civilians. Five American citizen nuns were
killed by NPFL troops during fighting on the outskirts of Monrovia. Human rights
activists report that the NPFL also took hundreds of civilian hostages, and scores
of persons were missing and feared dead.
The NPFL was not the only faction guilty of abuses. Both ULIMO and AFL troops
executed civilians. There were also credible reports of AFL and ULIMO squads
targeting former NPFL and INPFL members living in Monrovia. Nighttime bands
of AFL and ULIMO fighters also went from house to house in search of persons
from Nimba County who became objects of harassment and mistreatment. One
human rights group, citing credible sources, alleged that AFL troops summarily executed
captured or surrendering NPFL fighters. After fighting broke out on October
15, ECOMOG Alpha jets struck NPFL targets in several cities upcountry, causing
collateral damage and an unknown number of civilian casualties.
Some of the worst humanitarian offenses occurred in Grand Gedeh County where
Gio and Mano filters in the NPFL continued to punish their ethnic rivals, the
Krahns. In January between 1,000 and 3,000 persons fled to Cote DTvoire for
safehaven, and thousands more fled into the bush as the NPFL plundered their villages.
Several credible sources accused high ranking NPFL officers of operating involuntary
labor camps, resulting in the de facto imprisonment of scores of Grand
Gedeans. Acknowledging the abuses, Charles Taylor in May dispatched a trusted
NPFL ofiicial to enforee discipline among the NPFL soldiers in the area, and reports
of abuses diminished. However, credible sourees contended that after September the
NPFL initiated a program of involuntary conscription, including children, in Nimba
County and southeastern Liberia. According to these sources, persons who refused
to Join the NPFL were beaten and tortured, as were local government officials who
refused to implement the conscription program. Many of the young NPFL troops
sent to attack Monrovia in mid-October were given amphetamine (unigs by NPFL
commanders. NPFL soldiers also impeded the woric of the relief organizations providing
emergency assistance in NPFL territory. In August a Libenan employee of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed, and the luRC delegate
to Liberia was seriously wounded in an ambush, reportedly by NPFL soldiers,
in Bomi County.
Throughout the year, dozens of Liberian employees of relief organizations, including
the United Nations, were detained; some were beaten or threatened. A few foreign
relief workers also were detained, but mostly for short periods. Occasionally,
NPFL soldiers tried to confiscate relief supplies from relief^ workers; more commonly,
soldiers confiscated relief food after the humanitarian groups had distributed
it. In September the NPFL seized 10,000 pounds of rice from U.N. stocks in Grand
Gedeh County. Throughout the year, NPFL leader Charles Taylor publicly stated
his desire to cooperate with the relief community, and in midyear, he took several
steps to improve NPFL relations with the organizations.
A skirmish between Senegalese ECOMOG troops and the NPFL in Lofa County
in late May ended in the deaths of six ECOMOG and an undetermined number of
NPFL soldiers. According to ECOMOG, autopsies of the killed Senegalese soldiers
revealed that two or more were perhaps tortured.
TTiroughout the year, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), an organization of
Sierra Leonean dissidents, occupied or controlled areas along the Sierra Leonean
border. Credible sources reported that the RUF, backed by the NPFL, committed
many human rights infractions against Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
These freedoms are provided for in the Constitution
and, witn some limitations, were generally exercised in Monrovia, but
there were substantial limitations elsewhere. Monrovia had more than 12 privately
owned newspapers, 3 to 5 of which published regularly. The Interim Government
introduced its own paper, The Liberian Times, in June. There was no ofllcial press
censorship in Monrovia, nor were any newspapers closed during the year. However,
the Monrovia press tended to be pro-IGNU, and some journalists admitted practicing
self-censorship. Other journalists asserted that constant public calls by IGNU
omcials for a "more responsible" press had a chilling effect on journalistic freedom.
At times, journalists were requested to meet with IGNU officials who had been offended
by articles. Most of The Eye newspaper's editorial staff was arrested in August
and sued in connection with an article alleging that a high-ranking IGNU official
had threatened them. The case was settled out of court through the mtervention
of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), a human rights organization, and the Information
Ministry. The Eye had experienced two arson attempts in June.
In November IGNU ordered that the Ministry of Information edit all news articles
regarding the fighting around Monrovia which contained information about
ECOMOG troop positions and numbers. While most journalists did not oppose the
measure, a reputable journalist said that the Information Ministry had occasionally
overstepped its authority by significantly editing articles. Until its disintegration,
the INPFL sponsored an occasional newspaper. The Scorpion. The record of INPFL
regarding freedom of the press was not good. It detained the PUL President and
a colleague for several days because Prince Johnson felt the press was treating him
unfairly (see Section I.e.). On several occasions, Johnson threatened reporters for
publishingunfavorable articles about him.
The NPFL printed a newspaper, The Patriot. During the year, several privately
owned newspapers appeared in Gbamga, capital of NPFL-controlled territory. Some
of these papers, however, were depenoent on the NPFL Information Ministry printing
presses and relied on the Ministry for newsprint. These papers were decidedly
pro-NPFL, and self-censorship was apparent. Some ioumalists voiced complaints
that the NPFL Information Ministry stifled press freedom. Criticism of Charles Taylor
and NPFL military efforts were not allowed. In July two journalists were tried
by a special tribunal for publishing reports of NPFL military setbacks at the hands
01 ULIMO, but the outcome of the proceedings was never publicized. Journalists
from Monrovia experienced difficulty in covermg events in NPFL areas and often
had to seek approval from the NPFL before traveling there. The NPFL impeded distribution
of Monrovia-based newspapers in its territory, and the IGNU reciprocated
against some of the newspapers from NPFL territory.
Residents of Liberia had to exercise care in their criticism of the various factions.
Although NPFL leader Charles Taylor affirmed publicly on several occasions that
his government supported free speech and criticism, both Liberians and foreign nationals
were detained by his supporters for comments about the NPFL.
The IGNU, in addition to supporting a shortwave radio station (ELBC), inaugurated
FM broadcasts in early 1992. ELBC news reports were generally favorable to
the IGNU. A Christian-operated FM radio station also broadcast from the Monrovia
area. The NPFL operated three radio and two television stations in its area. NPFL
news programs supported Charles Taylor and the NPFL, while discussing economic
and social conditions in NPFL territory.
The University of Liberia, after a long hiatus, reopened in the first half of the
year but had to close because of the renewed firfiting. While it was open, academic
freedom was generally respected, although pro-NPFL expresssion was strongly criticized
by university authorities and most of the student body.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides the
rights of peaceful assembly and association. In Monrovia, political parties and other
groups were able to organize and to hold public meetings. New political organizations
such as the Labor Party and National Reformation Party appeared, but the
National Patriotic Party, the political aflUiate of the NPFL, was prohibited from locating
its headquarters in Monrovia. Severed civic groups held peaceful demonstrations,
some critical of IGNU. In July a group of taxi drivers bu)cked an important
Monrovia thoroughfare in protest over rising gasoline prices. Neither the IGNU nor
ECOMOG attempted forcibly to disband the demonstrators. However, in May
ECOMOG restricted a peaceful demonstration of 1,000 to 1,500 NPFL supporters
to the outskirts of Monrovia and refused to allow the demonstration into the central
city. In late June, ECOMOG also prevented Prince Johnson from exiting his base
to lead a demonstration calling for IGNU President Sawyer's removal. ECOMOG
said that it quashed the demonstration because of the high probability of violence.
In October ECOMOG, with IGNU concurrence, imposed a nignttime curfew in Monrovia
because of the insecure conditions caused by the fitting. ECOMOG soldiers
were ordered to enforce the measure strictly, and numerous persons were arrested
for noncompliance. AFL soldiers have reportedly wounded several citizens for breakingthe
curfew.
The freedoms of assembly and association were generally more restricted in NPFL
areas than in Monrovia. None of the prewar political parties was known to have
held public meetings in NPFL areas. However, the NPFL did sponsor four conferences
of tribal leaders, political party ofUcials, and leaders of numerous civic organizations.
Although the events were fashioned to be pro-NPFL, several influential
lonrovians attended some of the meetings, and some criticism of the NPFL was ex-
Kressed, particularly regarding the mistreatment of civilians by NPFL soldiers. In
larch several NPFL ofncials were assaulted in Buchanan by protesters (see Section
l.a.), who dispersed peacefully only after NPRAG/NPFL leader Charles Taylor visited
the city and promised to restore discipline to the troops there.
c. Freedom of Religion
The 1985 Constitution recognizes freedom of religion as
a fundamental right, and Liberia has no established state religion. Christianity has
long been the religion of the political and economic eUte, while the majority of the
population has continued to follow traditional religions or to practice a mixture of
traditional religions and Christianity or Islam. There were no evident efforts by the
various warring factions to suppress religious freedom, although Mandingos, who
are predominantly Muslim, were targeted by the NPFL as sympathetic to President
Doe during the civil war and in 1992 were mistreated by the NPFL as suspected
supporters of ULIMO.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Immigration and Repatriation.—
The Constitution provides for freedom of movement throu^out Liberia
as well as the right to leave or enter the country at will. Freedom of movement in
and out of Monrovia was generally respected by IGNU in 1992. However, IGNU reportedly
refused some NPKAG officials the right to depart Liberia throu^ the Monrovia
airport. Throu^out the year, freedom of movement, ranging from resettlement
of displaced persons to ordinary commerce and travel, was inhibited in NPFL
territory because of extortion and harassment by unruly soldiers.
ULIMO-NPFL clashes in western Liberia and arbitrary confiscation of private vehicles
also were strong deterrents to internal travel. While over 20,000 Liberians
fled to Monrovia in August and September to escape the ULIMO-NPFL fighting in
western Liberia, human rights groups and other credible sources stated that in September
the NPFL jprohibited hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others from seeking
similar refuge in Monrovia. For several months during the year, the IGNU imposed
embargoes on shipment of goods into NPFL territory, and retaliatory actions by the
NPFL nad the practical effect of inhibiting the right to travel within the county.
In January between 1,000 and 3,000 Krahns fled to Cote d'lvoire to escape harassment
from the Gio and Mano NPFL fighters. Roughly 600,000 Liberian refiigees
remained in nei^boring West African countries, many out of fear of ethnic discrimination.
While accurate figures of refugee repatriation are difficult to confirm, up to
80,000 Liberians may have spontaneously returned since June 1991. Most of these
returnees went to Monrovia, where they were well received and were provided assistance
by a network consisting of the U.N. agencies, the IGNU, and international
and domestic nongovernmental relief groups.
There are approximately 100,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia. Althou^
many Sierra Leoneans were mistreated by the NPFL, there were no reports of such
refugees being forced to leave Liberia.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
Despite constitutional and legal guarantees of free and fair elections, Liberians
could not exercise the right to change their government in 1992. Under the auspices
of ECOWAS, the NPFL and the IGNU estaolished an ad hoc elections commission
in 1991 with a mandate to organize presidential and national legislative elections
in 1992. However, the elections commission made little progress toward holding
elections, primarily because of the failure of the warring factions to disarm.
There was some limited activity in the search for new political formulas to restore
unity under a popularly elected leadership. The NPRAG and IGNU exchanged pro-
{>osals aimed at forming joint executive branch commissions, but there was little folowup.
The legislatures of the NPRAG and the IGNU periodically considered merging,
but no progress was achieved. The IGNU remained a coalition Government
comprised of the major prewar political parties. Power in the IGNU mainly resides
in the executive branch, led by President Amos Sawyer, and not in the legislature
or the judiciary. The NPRAG also had three separate branches of government. But
unlike the coalition-based IGNU, Charles Taylor is the NPRAG'S unquestioned leader
and decisionmaker.
Neither the legislature in Monrovia nor that in Gbamga was truly representative.
However, the Interim Legislature in Monrovia at times asserted its role as a separate
branch of government, both confirming and rejecting important IGNU appointees
following public confirmation hearings. It also subpoenaed members of the
executive branch to explain actions of the Interim Government. While the NPRAG
legislature was generally subservient to its party leadership views, it too rejected
a few NPRAG appointments. The NPRAG held legislative and county elections in
NPFL territoiy, and although some incumbents were not returned to office, few details
were available on the fairness of the exercise.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigations
ofAlleged Violations of Human Rights
The few human rights organizations in Liberia are relatively new, underfunded,
and inexperienced. These groups conducted some public meetings and other activities
but engaged in very Rttle human rights monitoring. Two groups occasionally
published newspapers dedicated to human rights. None of the organizations reported
any IGNU interference with their activities. The attitude of the NPRAG toward
the human ri^ts orgeinizations was less clearly enunciated, and its conduct
to date has not been encouraging. Some Monrovia-based activists feared for their
personal safety, claiming that the NPFL had accused them of being IGNU agents.
They also alleged that the NPFL placed significant restrictions on their travel in
NPFL territory. There was one human rights organization based in NPFL territory,
but it did not appear to be active or effective.
Section 5. Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
The roots of the civil conflict can be found in the historical division between, on
the one hand, the Americo-Liberians, who for over 150 years dominated the political,
economic, and cultural life of the country, and on the other hand, the indigenous
ethnic groups. The latter frequently complained of government discrimination in
many areas, such as access to education and civil service jobs and to infrastructure
development. The coup mounted by Sergeant Doe and other noncommissioned officers
in 1980 was seen as a revolution, with indigenous groups taking power from
the Americo-Liberian elite. However, Doe's authoritarian military-based regime profressively
exacerbated ethnic tensions while subverting the democratic reforms emodied
in the 1985 Constitution.
During the Doe regime, resentment grew over domination by, and government favoritism
toward, his tribe, the Krahns. At the height of the civil war, an individual's
language was used to identify that person's ethnicgroup. ITiose from groups considered
hostile freauently were summarily executed. The cease-fire in late 1990 stopped
most of these aouses. However, NPFL reprisals against the Krahn, particularly in
Grand Gedeh, and against Mandingos tnroughout NPFL territory, continued to
occur, and harassment of rival ethnic groups by Krahn AFL troops in Monrovia resumed
when fighting broke out in mid-OctoTber (see Section l.g.).
The 1985 Constitution prohibited discrimination based on ethnic background,
race, sex, creed, place of origin, or political opinion. However, it also provided that
only "persons who are Negroes or of Negro aescent" may be citizens or own land,
thus denying full rights to many who have lived all their lives in Liberia. Neither
Monrovia's Interim Government nor Gbamga's NPRAG have considered repealing
this racial test.
The status of women in Liberian society varies by region, ethnic group, and relifion.
Some women currently hold skilled jobs, including cabinet-level positions in
oth the IGNU and NPFL governments. In 1991 and 1992, several women's organizations
were established in Monrovia and Gbamga to advance family welfare issues,
to help promote political reconciliation, and to assist in rehabilitating former combatants
as well as civilian victims of war. In urban areas and along the coast,
women can inherit land and property. In rural areas, where traditional customs are
stronger, a woman is normalljyr considered the property of her husband and his clan
and is not usually entitled to inherit from her husband.
Women in most rural areas are responsible for much of the farm labor emd have
had only limited access to education. According to a recent U.N. study, females in
Liberia receive only about 28 percent of the schooling given to males. In the massive
violence inflicted on civilians during the conflict, women suffered the gamut of
abuses, and especially rape. Even prior to the war, domestic violence against women
was extensive but never was seriously addressed as an issue by the Government or
women's groups. Female genital mutilation (circumcision) was, and almost certainlv
still is, widely practiced, particularly in some rural areas. According to an independent
expert in the field, the percentage of Liberian women who have undergone this
procedure may be as hi^h as 60 percent. Young children are sometimes compelled
to perform military service (see Section 6.d.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution states that workers have the ri^^t
to associate in trade unions. Unions are constitutionally prohibited from partisan
political activity, and the restriction has been observed in practice. Government interference
in union activities, especially elections and leadership conflicts, was customary
before the war. Over 20 trade unions, representing about 15 percent of the
wage-earning work force, were registered with the Ministiy bf Labor before 1989.
More than ten national unions were members of the Libenan Federation of Labor
Unions (LFLU). However, the actual power the unions exercised was always slight.
Like virtually all other organized activity in the country, unions disappeared during
the height of the war. As some lar^e-scale operations involving rubber and other
esttractive industries began operating in NPFL areas in 1991 ana 1992, some union
activity associated with these industries also resumed. In at least one instance, an
incumbent union withstood a challenge from another group seeking to represent the
workers at a major extractive operation in NPFL territory. Union activity also resumed
in Monrovia, with much of it focusing on resolving prewar internal leadership
questions. Labor unions traditionally were aflUiated with international labor
groups before the war, and many of these ties were resumed in 1992.
Liberia's status as a beneficiary of trade preferences under the United States'
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program was suspended in 1990 as a result
of the Doe Government's failure to take steps to provide internationally recognized
worker rights. For example, the Doe regime did not recognize the right of civil
servants or employees of pubhc corporations to unionize or strike. During 1992 the
IGNU legislature worked toward, but did not enact, an amended labor code removing
the prohibition against unionization of government workers.
Neither the IGNIJ nor the NPRAG officiallv repealed or afiirmed the 1980 Doe
Government decree prohibiting strikes, but tnere were no major strikes in 1992.
However, there were several work slowdowns (some by IGNU civil servants) because
of late or partial wage pajrments. Workers in the extractive industries conducted
slowdowns and also threatened work stoppages in protest over some companies'
slowness or failure to comply with the NPKAG's requirement for wage payments in
United States currency instead of Liberian dollars. During the year, neither IGNU
nor NPRAG took any discriminatory actions against organized labor.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
-With the important exception
of civil servants and employees of public coiterations, workers eiyoy the right to organize
and bargain collectively. However, m 1992 these rights were significantly
constrained by the institutional breakdown of unions caused by the war and the low
level of economic activity. With high unemployment and lay-offs being fundamental
concerns, several unions negotiated with employers severance payments for union
members who had become redundant. Generally, the wage and severance pay agreements
are negotiated freely between labor and their employers, with occasional
input from the IGNU or NPRAG Labor Ministry.
Although the Interim Legislature deliberated the merits of a revised labor code,
neither the Interim Government nor the NPRAG took steps to correct flaws highlighted
by the 1990 report of the International Labor Organization (ILO). That report
stated that existing labor laws failed to provide workers adequate protection
against discrimination and reprisals for union activity, failed to protect workers' organizations
against outside interference, and did not give eligiole workers in the
public sector uie opportunity to bargain collectively.
Labor laws have the same force in Liberia's one export processing zone as in the
rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution prohibits forced
labor, but even before the civil war this prohibition was widely ignored in rural
areas, where farmers were pressured into providing free labor on "community
projects" which often benefited only local leaders. Forced labor was used by some
or all of the warring factions during the civil war, especially for moving equipment
and supplies. Vestiges of this practice persisted in 1992. NPFL oflicers established
forced mbor camps and farms m Grand Gedeh County. According to several sources,
the NPFL reportedly used forced labor in western Liberia to move suppUes in the
wake of clashes with ULIMO. When it captured Bomi County in August, ULIMO
reportedly forced inhabitants to carry property that had been confiscated as spoils
of war.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Under the Doe Government, the
law prohibited employment of children under age 16 during school hours in the
wage sector. Enforcement by the Ministry of Labor, however, was limited. Even before
the civil war, small diildren continued to assist their parents as vendors in
local markets and on family subsistence farms. This practice persisted in 1992, particularly
in those areas where schools had been closed because of the war. During
the conflict, the NPFL and the DJPFL recruited young children as soldiers; many
of them had been orphaned, and some were less than 12 years of age. Many of these
children, especially in the NPFL, remained under arms in 1992, (Indeed, the NPFL
had a unit named the "Small Boys Unit.") To help counter the ULIMO offensive in
western Liberia, the NPFL was believed to have recruited additional soldiers, including
children, in the latter half of 1992. Many of the young NPFL troops sent
to attack Monrovia in mid-October were given mood-altering drugs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The labor law provides for a minimum wage,
paid leave, severance benefits, and safety standards. Before the economy collapsed,
the legal minimum wage varied according to profession but did not generally provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Often workers were forced
to supplement their incomes through other activities to maintain a minimal standard
of living. Most turned to subsistence farming. The wage limit has not always
been enforced adequately by the Labor Ministry. In mid-1992, the NPRAG ordered
that all extractive mdustries pay workers at least partly in U.S. dollars. The measure
effectively increased the woikers' salaries due to the variance between the official
and black market exchange rates. I*rior to 1990, there had also been health and
safety standards, in theonr enforced by the Ministry of Labor. In view of the low
level of economic activity during 1992, these various regulations were not obeyed by
many employers, and there was very little attempt at enforcement in Monrovia or
in NPFL territory.
