Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a Parliament-enacted organization created in May 2005 under the Transitional Government. The Commission worked throughout the first mandate of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf after she was election President of Liberia in November 2005. The Liberian TRC came to a conclusion in 2010, filing a final report and recommending relevant actions by national authorities to ensure responsibility and reparations. The Liberian TRC has garnered much criticism for its inability to address Charles Taylor and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted Charles Taylor, the leader of the rebel group the National Patriotic Front of Liberia to which many of the crimes against humanity are attributed. This indictment prevented the Liberian TRC from hearing any testimony from Taylor. Sirleaf, on the other hand, was placed on a list of persons that should be barred from public office, a ruling which was later overturned by the Liberian Supreme Court. Creation and mandate The Liberian TRC's mandate was to "promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation" by investigating more than 20 years of civil conflict in the country and to report on gross human rights violations that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and 14 October 2003. "Violations" are defined as violations of international human rights standards, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and any breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The goal of the Liberian TRC was to dispel falsifications and misconceptions of the country's past socioeconomic and political development. The TRC also strove to provide a forum to address issues of impunity and allow victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences, thereby creating a clear picture of the past and facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation. To this end, the Liberian TRC was granted full independence from the Liberian government, to prevent potential biases among the commissioners and other TRC employees.