For Immediate Release:
Contact: Jeffrey Buchanan (202) 463-7575 ext. 241 buchanan@rfkmemorial.org
Sushetha Gopallawa (202) 463-7575 ext. 270 gopallawa@rfkmemorial.org

RFK Center and Justice and Peace Commission Help Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Obtain U.S. State Dept. Records Highlighting Human Rights Abuses in Liberia

WASHINGTON D.C. (October 31th, 2007) – The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Liberia (JPC) handed over 4,000 pages of de-classified U.S. Department of State documents to the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) today. The documents, related to human rights abuses experienced by the Liberians during the country's protracted fifteen-year civil war, were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the DC-based National Security Archive on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and its partners at JPC.

Monsignor Andrew Karnley, Apostlic Administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia and J. Augustine Toe, JPC National Director, handed over these documents to the chairman of the TRC. The TRC is the investigatory body tasked with recording rights violations and abuses that occurred during Liberia's civil war.

"Today marks a very important day in the life of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) and by extension the Catholic Church of Liberia," said Monsignor Karnley. "Today, the JPC is contributing these documents to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a means of healing our past and as an important step towards choosing a path of peace and dialogue."

The documents reference such human rights violations as

· The public execution of thirteen high officials of the deposed Liberian government on April 22, 1980 on a beach in Monrovia;

· The invasion of the University of Liberia by the Executive Mansion Guard, under the orders of President Samuel Doe, in August 1984, due to student protests after the arrest of Amos Sawyer, then a Dean at the University and later an interim President of Liberia;

· The killing of civilians, primarily members of the Mano and Gio tribes, and looting of several large supermarkets by the Armed Forces of Liberia in July, 1990; and

· The allegation that the Firestone plantation in Liberia acted as an alternate haven for Charles Taylor.

"These documents provide clear evidence of unspeakable crimes of past regimes, warring factions and individuals in Liberia," said Monika Kalra Varma, Director of RFK Center. "It is our hope, that sharing this information with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee will assist the TRC in fulfilling its own mandate of setting a basis for reconciliation and justice in Liberia."

JPC , founded by the Archbishop of Monrovia, Michael Kpakala Francis, the 1999 RFK Human Rights Award Laureate and one of Liberia's most renowned human rights defenders, also plans to use the information gathered from the documents to bring perpetrators of abuses in Liberia to justice in local courts.

The National Security Archive filed the FOIA requests on behalf of RFK Center and JPC in July 2006. Despite the willingness of the DOS to comply with the FOIA requests, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have not complied with similar requests. As of June 2006, the National Security Archive has filed 46 FOIA requests with the CIA and 23 with the DIA relating to the recent conflict in Liberia. Any additional documents released via the FOIA process to RFK Center and JPC will be shared with the TRC.

National Security Archive (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/) is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University that collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

RFK Center and JPC are working with Professor Bert Lockwood of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and his students to analyze the documents. The final report will be prepared for the RFK Center and the JPC, and will be shared with the National Security Archive and the TRC.

RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights is a non-profit non-governmental organization that engages in long-term partnerships with human rights defender who win the RFK Human Rights Award, advocating for the social justice goals they champion.

Source: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial ( www.rfkmemorial.org)