Refugees International: Articles: Liberia: Key Facts on Supporting the Rule of Law

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Liberia: Key Facts on Supporting the Rule of Law

09/19/2007

Contacts: Mark Malan and Melanie Teff

The US should support the build-up of a credible police service in Liberia in cooperation with local and international partners. The US should also establish a multi-donor funding mechanism to develop rule of law in Liberia, with an emphasis on the justice sector and corrections services.

Progress on development in Liberia will not be sustainable if there is no rule of law. Funding from international agencies for building the justice sector is currently insufficient and a coherent framework for a strategy of support to the justice sector is urgently needed.

POLICE

UNMIL’s UN Police (UNPOL) component is assisting the Government of Liberia in monitoring and restructuring the Liberian police from scratch. Since 2004, UNPOL has been required to assist the LNP in maintaining law and order, at the same time as it was mandated to restructure, retrain and re-equip the Liberian National Police (LNP). However, there was no budget line or funding within UNMIL for establishing and operating with the LNP.

A target of 3,500 trained LNP officers has been met, but the elected government of Liberia has subsequently increased this goal to 6,000. A Police Support Unit (PSU) has been formed, and 300 members received specialized training on disorder control and tactical operations in Nigeria. To bridge the gap in capabilities between the army and the LNP, plans have been approved for the establishment of a 500-strong police Quick Reaction Unit (QRU). The aim is to have 200 QRU members trained and operational by July 2009. Elements of the QRU will deploy to duty stations throughout the 15 counties.

Improving funding and addressing urgent leadership and management challenges will improve the present low morale and poor discipline of the LNP. The LNP and UNPOL have not succeeded in reducing violent crime – especially armed robbery and gender-based violence. Some police officers still extort bribes, though this is decreasing. The police salary in 2004 was US$17 per month, and was seldom paid. After graduation from the Academy, LNP officers now receive a net salary of US$83 per month, which was initially funded by the USA, but is now the responsibility of the Government of Liberia.

With the restructuring of the police, all officers and supervisors were reduced to the rank of patrolman and sent back to the Police Academy to undergo basic training. This has had a deleterious effect on police discipline. The LNP still has no line supervisors bearing rank – sergeants, inspectors, chief inspectors. There is no Manual of Police Procedures, or general handbook for the LNP. However, a new Career Development Plan has been approved and the process of developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and a Duty Manual for the LNP is now complete.

Joint UNPOL/LNP patrols continue, as the LNP still lacks the vehicles and capacity to patrol independently in mobile units. The Government of Liberia allocated only US$269,000 for police vehicles in the 2006 national budget. Some vehicles have been provided by donors, but far too few for the needs of the LNP. Bilateral donor support has been significant, but it has come in an uncoordinated and unprioritized manner. And UNPOL has still had to beg for the resources that are essential to implement its mandated tasks.

There is still a critical shortage of police facilities and equipment. There is only one forensic laboratory, in Monrovia, for the whole of Liberia. There is only one mobile unit (pickup truck) allocated per county. Basic personal police equipment is currently available to less than half the members of the LNP. Due to lack of funding, it took three years for the new LNP to be issued with new uniforms, which were donated by the USA some two and a half years after the first class had graduated from the Police Academy. Outside of the Police Academy, there are no barracks to provide accommodation for LNP members, and there is no housing allowance for those who serve in the counties.

In addition to outstanding LNP equipment requirements, the QRU will require side arms, sub-machine guns, other specialist weapons, ammunition for training and deployment, uniforms, and at least 20 vehicles. Additional training and accommodation facilities will also have to be built. The $5 million allocated by the USA is clearly insufficient to meet such needs, and it is unclear as to where the additional funding will come from.

JUSTICE SYSTEM

The Liberian justice system needs more qualified lawyers and sufficient funding. There are more than 300 magistrates in Liberia, but only 5 are legally trained, and only one legally-qualified County Attorney. City Solicitors prosecute cases before the magistrates courts; none of them is legally-qualified. Public defenders are not receiving salaries. There is a law school in Monrovia, but the graduates tend to go into private practice. There is a need to enhance salaries for public sector lawyers. Incentives, particularly housing incentives, are needed to persuade judges and qualified lawyers to practice in rural areas.

Due to insufficient resources, the court process is very slow and there is a very large backlog of cases. Witnesses, including crime victims, have to attend numerous court hearings and they receive no assistance with their travel costs. Cases are usually referred to courts in the capital, which increases travel costs. The majority of witnesses cannot comply with the repeated requirement to attend court, resulting in cases being dropped.

There is no system in place to protect complainants. When perpetrators are released without cases being dealt with properly, complainants are put at further risk. As a result, many drop their cases or simply do not report crimes.

Because of the non-functioning justice system, many cases are dealt with by alternative systems, and are frequently dealt with by town chiefs. The decisions of town chiefs often do not comply with Liberian laws, and rarely protect women’s rights in cases of sexual and gender-based violence.

Justice sector reform needs to include a proper reform of the prison service. Prison guards are paid only US$30 per month. Even if a prosecution is successful and a perpetrator is sent to prison, he is often out of prison in a few days, since the prison may have insufficient security, or he can bribe his way out.

The absence of children’s corrections centers means that children get sent to adult prisons where they often suffer abuse. Children held in adult prisons have high rates of recidivism.