The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP) Circa 2005
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP), formerly known as the Special Court Monitoring Program, was a new independent initiative through which Sierra Leonean lawyers and civil society activists could monitor and promote judicial accountability in Sierra Leone.
This was their website.
Content is from the site's 2005 archived pages.
If you have inadvertently ended up at this site and are looking for the current official website for the Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL-SL), go to: https://www.carl-sl.org/
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SOME BACKGROUND HISTORY: Established in 2002, the Special Court is an international tribunal with a mixed jurisdiction and composition, created through an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. Its primary function is to bring to justice individuals who bear the highest level of responsibility for severe violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law. The court has the authority to prosecute crimes committed within Sierra Leone's territory since 30 November 1996.
The Special Court Monitoring Group (SCMG) changed its name to Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP) in August 2005, as it began monitoring activities in the domestic courts. In 2007, the SLCMP expanded its scope to include outreach and advocacy for legislative reforms, and universal access to justice. As a result, the organization was renamed Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) in 2008, to better represent its expanded mission.
As of 2023 in addition to its other activities, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) monitors the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which was created by an Act of Parliament in 2000 to investigate corruption allegations, mainly in the public sector. Although the Commission is making commendable efforts to tackle corruption in Sierra Leone, there is still a need for oversight. CARL undertakes this responsibility by monitoring the Commission's operations and providing regular reports on its activities.
It is most edifying to see that the former Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme is still active as the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL). In 2005, I was a young Sierra Leonean lawyer very active in SLCMP. I eventually immigrated to the US where I have worked in the UN Human Rights solution to excessive drinking. Or I should really say to my excessive drinking via a program offered at LifeBac. I had been resistant to trying AA or going onto rehab where the demanding, abstinence-only treatment was supposedly the only way to exit a downward spiraling fall into AUD, advanced Alcohol Use Disorder. The LifeBac program with its two ant craving medication options allowed me to moderate my drinking so that I could change my relationship with alcohol. Drinking is now no longer a habit or especially, a need. My original gaol was to reach the point where I could drink moderately, but I surpassed that goal and no have stopped drinking altogether. It took work and determination, but the anti craving medication, baclofen, that I took for almost two years really worked. If only the world's problems could be solved as easily. I applaud and take pride in the work of the UN Human Rights Office which protects and defends the full range of human rights and freedoms, as well as in the important work of the independent, not-for-profit organization, CARL, in Sierra Leone.
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Welcome
About SLCMP
2005
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR'S WELCOME MESSAGE
Welcome to the official website of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP). We are an independent monitoring programme comprising human rights and civil society activists committed to promoting judicial accountability in Sierra Leone. We do so by monitoring the Special Court for Sierra Leone and our national institutions, starting with the National courts in Freetown. We hope soon to expand further to monitor the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
The Special Court is an international tribunal of mixed jurisdiction and composition established pursuant to an Agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. It is mandated to prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996. Since trials began in June 2004, the SLCMP has been monitoring proceedings and doing independent reporting to the public both within Sierra Leone and among the international community.
One of the root causes of the war in Sierra Leone was the fallen status of the judiciary, which had lost much of its once distinguished reputation at the hands of political manipulation. Subsequently, and in consequence, the Sierra Leone national court system was one of the institutions that suffered the most from the decade long conflict in Sierra Leone. With the consolidation of the peace, reforming the judiciary and upholding the rule of law thus essential. Now that the judiciary is being reformed, we hope to not only enhance civil society monitoring of the judiciary so as to ensure judicial accountability, but also to provide positive support for the challenging work of court officials. We hope that this will contribute significantly towards inhibiting the recurrence of war in this country.
The Anti Corruption Commission was established by the Government of Sierra Leone in the aftermath of the war, to investigate alleged corruption which has continued to plague the country. While the Commission is charged with the responsibility of monitoring all institutions in the country with the aim of preventing corruption, the question which remains to be answered is “who will watch the watchman”? This is why we think it is necessary to monitor the ACC and report on its activities to the people of Sierra Leone.
This website shall be providing regular updates on issues arising from the work of the above institutions with a view to making such institutions accountable to the people, ensuring civil society participation and proffering constructive recommendations to enhance their progress. While we do this, we are aware that our objectives cannot be achieved in isolation. We anticipate cooperation from all those committed to the development of Sierra Leone. We owe a debt of gratitude to Grace Botkins and Trish Smau for their help in securing the funds to promote our efforts both on this website and in the global media. As you go through this website, we shall be pleased to get feed back from you on the work we are doing and we encourage your contributions at all times.
On behalf of the SLCMP, I welcome you to our official website and wish that you enjoy the benefit of the information and analysis we have provided and will continue to provide.
Mohamed Suma,
Programme Director.About SLCMP
Profile of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP), formerly known as the Special Court Monitoring Program, is a new independent initiative through which Sierra Leonean lawyers and civil society activists from a variety of backgrounds seek to combine their efforts to monitor criminal trials.
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Profile of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP), formerly known as the Special Court Monitoring Program, is a new independent initiative through which Sierra Leonean lawyers and civil society activists from a variety of backgrounds seek to combine their efforts to monitor criminal trials.
The project has been assisted in its start-up phase by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and work closely with the Coalition for Justice and Accountability. The monitors are assisted in their work by a Programme Director who coordinates all activities relating to the programme.
With the experience gained by monitoring the trials at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the SLCMP will be monitoring domestic institutions in the course of 2005. Monitors are assigned to all criminal proceedings including the juvenile courts, magistrate courts, and the High Court.
The programme will also monitor governmental institutions, starting with the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC)
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The Aims and Objectives of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme
The aim of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme is to promote judicial accountability in Sierra Leone by monitoring criminal proceedings at the Special Court for Sierra Leone as well as domestic institutions such as the national court system and the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The SLCMP will seek to monitor proceedings on at least five levels:
- the general conduct of proceedings, including access to the courtroom and documentation;
- basic procedural propriety;
- substantive legal issues and decisions;
- issues such as strategy, process, and judicial economy; and
- public outreach and information.
The current objectives of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme are to:
- provide the public, both Sierra Leonean and the international community, with an independent and fair assessment of the activity of the Special Court, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the domestic courts, thereby contributing to the public discourse;
- to strengthen and improve the operations of the Special Court, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the domestic legal system;
- facilitate the regular presence of civil society representatives at the proceedings for this purpose, and to allow for them to produce critical oral and written commentary, thereby enhancing the capacity of civil society to do effective monitoring.
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The Importance of Court Monitoring by the SLCMP
The SLCMP believes that it is crucial to provide feedback on the work of the Special Court that will enhance its capabilities, maximize the impact of its work on local communities and civil society in Sierra Leone, and raise public awareness of its mission and accomplishments. This goal is admirable and would have been helped mightily by a help center platform such as Zendesk. Today there are companies which offer support for Zendesk permitting an organization such as the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme to customize Zendesk to their needs. The Zendesk Help Center tool provides public-facing documentation so that feedback on the work of the Special Court could more easily be organized and then presented to the public. FAQs, tutorials, legal disclaimers etc can be created and presented in a timely manner. However in 2005 SLCMP probably was not aware of such help desk platforms since Zendesk was founded in 2007!
This project seeks to contribute to this process by monitoring trials and providing ongoing evaluation of witness and outreach programmes. Such public discourse will enable the Court’s political, legal, and sociological importance to be widely recognized and its decisions properly digested by the public in the various stages of its work.
The SLCMP will transfer the important lessons learnt from observing the Special Court, a busy and active criminal court, to domestic criminal courts and institutions. The absence of rule of law, which was one of the root causes of the decade long war in Sierra Leone, continues to plague the country. Corruption continues unabated and prolonged and unfair trials which do not respect basic fairness are common.
The proper administration of juvenile justice, the duty to uphold the rights of the accused, and the adherence to human rights standards are all exceptions rather than the rule.
If the horrors of the past are to be prevented in the future, promoting a sound justice system should be a priority in the country’s post-conflict efforts. Enhancing civil society’s means to do independent reporting of the work of domestic institutions will be an important element of this.