By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Special Court of Sierra Leone has on the 17th June 2021 engaged Civil Society groups, the clergy, women leaders, and youth groups in Kenema on its operations and the need to preach peace.
In his statement, the outreach focal person for the court, Patrick Fatorma spoke about the need to raise awareness on witness protection and the legislate of the Court.
He noted that the court’s mandate is to continue the legal aspect of the special court in Sierra Leone as per law one of which is to take care of the inmates being sentenced by the court because of the crimes committed during the war.
He said before the general elections, they also engaged stakeholders on the need to maintain the peace and stability of the country whilst reminding them of the impact of the 11 years civil war.
He noted that as a unit within the special court of Sierra Leone, the residual court has been able to establish the peace museum which they have encouraged students to be visiting to learn about the history of the civil war in Sierra Leone. This he said will help them know about the crimes committed by people during the war and will serve as a lesson for the children that were not born before the war.
Fatorma said the engagement is meant to continue building the capacity of the civil society so they could disseminate the message to the public about some of the contributing factors of the war.
The outreach focal person stated that the target of the international tribunal is on national reconciliation and peace and to put an end to those who commit atrocities and walk away with it.
The witness support officer residual special court for Sierra Leone Tamba Sammie said the witness protection unit is charged with the responsibility of relocating witnesses to new place of residence and change of identity of the witnesses, adding that, the registrar of the court has the power to set up a witness and victims section in accordance with the statute in consultation with the office of the prosecutor.
Sammie stated that the court does recommend special court adaption of the protective and security measures for them, with long and short term plans for the protection and support of the witness.
He added that the court has experts on sexual violence, trauma, and violence against children among others, and used the forum to highlight all the processes the special court used to ascertain credible witness to help the court to do its job effectively and efficiently.
One of the participants at the training, Fallah Albert Bockarie thanked the residual special court for the knowledge provided to them which he said will capacitate them in their advocacy activities.
Bockarie assured the team that, civil society will continue to remind government and other duty bearers of the truth and reconciliation commission report on good governance and democracy in the country.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (18/06/21)
