War-torn Liberia has announced the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to address human rights violations carried out over the country's recent history of violence, instability, and civil war. The BBC reports that newly-elected Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf stated that the commission would address ""gross human rights violations and violations of international laws... including massacres, sexual violations, murders, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes."
The creation of the commission is the second announcement concerning transitional justice in Liberia made by President Johnson-Sirleaf, who was elected last month and became Africa's first female head of state. Previously, Johnson-Sirleaf has made it known that she viewed the prosecution of former Liberian president Charles Taylor -- who has been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone and is in exile in neighboring Nigeria -- as "secondary" and stated that she intended to focus her efforts instead on national reconstruction.
After nearly twenty-five years of conflict, let's hope that a truth commission can contribute to Liberia's much-needed rebuilding.
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