CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE REVIVES DISCOURSE ON TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN SIERRA LEONE
The institution’s intervention is aimed at critically looking at some of the key legacies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, institutional reforms, and the Special Court of Sierra Leone to consolidate peace and democracy in the country.
In an exclusive interview, Mrs. Bernadette French, Programs Director, told the MRCG that their key intervention is to follow most of the gains of government on TJ issues in Sierra Leone and to further engage government to domesticate the African Transitional Justice Policy (ATJP); a policy drafted by the African Union to engage different member states to consolidate peace and find mechanisms for conflict resolution in the sub regions.
“The policy was formulated by the African Union in order to consolidate peace in Africa and we are currently engaged in lobbying government for the domestication process. We are also looking at our position as a country in terms of TJ issues, and also working on developing a framework for National Transitional Justice which will be presented to government as a guide to strengthening peace and unity across the country at all times,” she expressed.
Mrs. French further explained that CGG has engaged key government institutions like the Office of the Chief Minister, the Human Rights Court, the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Justice and many other Civil Society Organizations to influence governance policies on peace and unity across the country. In all of the engagements, Mrs. French noted that there have been some successes with individual commitments and participation. She also pointed out that government as a whole is also committed to building the peace architecture. She emphasized that “there will be success at the end of the day; as we have started seeing a clear link between the National Transitional Justice Policy and the Peace Architecture.”
With regards impacting society, Mrs. French noted that their project has been able to draw attention not only at community levels, but also from the level of government and the African Union. She pointed out that a lot more citizens have got some knowledge on the existence of the National Transitional Justice Policy and are now aware of transitional justice issues in relation to peace building.
Among other things, Mrs. French recommended to the ATJLF to invest in more capacity building of stakeholders in African countries; to engage in building transitional justice networks among African countries for cross-country sharing of experiences with regards their individual measures of upholding transitional justice issues and to build robust institutions to enhance political, economic and social transformation for most African countries that have gone through conflicts so that they would not slide back to them.
The Programs Director ended by emphasizing that they are open for any collaboration or partnership; hence it is in the same line of promoting peace and unity.