S/PV.6495 Security Council

I thank Ms. Løj for her briefing. I now give the floor to His Excellency Prince Zeid. Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein: I am honoured to present this briefing as Chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission’s configuration for Liberia, and to be joining the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia and head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Her Excellency Ms. Ellen Margrethe Løj. Given my current association with Liberia, I would also like to commend publicly the superb leadership of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in all areas involving UNMIL’s work — and there is not a single person I met in Liberia who does not agree with this assessment — and to acknowledge the very high quality and caliber of her two Deputies, as well as the great contributions of the UNMIL Force Commander and the Commissioner of United Nations Police. With every visit to the field, I am also reminded of the extraordinary talents of the United Nations staff members, and find myself in a position always of never knowing enough. I would also like, Mr. President, with your kind permission to note publicly what I have said privately to the Council on a previous occasion. What I find encouraging about the future of Liberia is the great number of talented and committed officials and public personalities from the highest levels of Government through the county and down to the district levels; from the judiciary and Parliament to the independent commissions; in the Liberia National Police and the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization; in civil and religious society, and in the media. I have completed two visits to Liberia and I have learned enormously from all of them. Before I focus on my presentation, may I first support entirely what the Special Representative has said with respect to the Ivorian refugees. On 19 February, I visited Sanniquellie in Nimba county — the worst-affected county — and spoke both to the representatives of the county and to the senior Liberian officials who were with me. From all of them, I grasped fully just how quickly the security situation could degenerate either as a result of any further swelling in the number of Ivorian refugees or if no assistance were given to the Liberian authorities — in the form of transportation and communications — to manage this delicate situation as it exists now. While in Sanniquellie, I also met with a number of traditional leaders to learn about the alternative traditional land dispute mechanisms used by them. Many observers, as well as officials both in and out of Liberia, believe that sorting out the numerous land disputes would, as a priority measure and in conjunction with other measures — such as the use of the Palava Hut discussions, youth employment programmes and ceremonies to memorialize the past — be sufficient in leading the country towards national reconciliation. What became clear to me in the course of my discussions with these traditional leaders, however, was the extent to which the problems of Liberia extend some distance beyond the resolution of competing land claims. While it is undoubtedly true that sorting out land disputes would indeed go a long way towards blunting the lingering ill feelings that exist between the two principal communities in the country, they will not remove them. The land disputes have only amplified what is already there and has existed for a long time; it does not account for them entirely. The Palava Hut mechanism is not a sufficient basis for dealing with the competing historical narratives either. It is a means for resolving fixed disputes, one that the Liberians place a great deal of trust in and which has enjoyed broad success, but it generally works well only until the next crisis, problem or dispute comes along. If it had been sufficient to sort out the deeper resentments, Liberia would not have suffered the upheavals it has over the course of 30 years. What is needed is a firm foundation in the form of a single, uniform historical narrative. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission proposed the establishment of a historical commission, and I believe that should be the centerpiece of and the first step towards the construction of a unified national memory. The Government has, commendably, picked this up, although it has asked the Ministry of Education to undertake this activity. Most respectfully, I believe, however, that this requires a much higher profile, and I will continue to discuss this and other matters relating to national reconciliation with the Liberian authorities in due course, including the establishment of an archive where all the documents of State are housed and safeguarded. Once a memory is established, the Palava Hut mechanism will have greater meaning as an instrument of national reconciliation, in that, hopefully, it will also provide a forum for reckoning, the precursor to reconciliation. With a well-designed youth employment programme in place, surely the foundations for a lasting peace would be more secure. I should add that we are still awaiting a World Bank assessment of its own youth employment programme before agreeing to the pilot project, as provided for in the Statement of Mutual Assessment. When in Sanniquellie, I also visited a circuit court that had recently been renovated by the United Nations. In speaking to a thoughtful judge who was that day presiding over a particular proceeding, it came to my attention that while all cases before the circuit court were jury trials — unless requested otherwise by the Counsel for Defence — funds did not exist for the sequestration or the isolation of the jury, and most, if not virtually all, trials at that level in Liberia suffer from this shortcoming. The upshot is clear, therefore: the justice system remains very prone to potential contamination. The Liberian authorities, of course, are well aware of this, and the Law Reform Commission, whose commissioners appear to be exceedingly able, will by now have begun drafting, together with the Ministry of Justice, a new jury law. I raise this point to underscore the fragility of the judiciary following the many years of conflict and instability. The Government is very much committed to providing judicial services to areas beyond Monrovia, but it must be careful not to export a system which is, in many ways, broken. The authorities must, for example, as a matter of some urgency, put into place a case-tracking system. In my meetings with the very capable Minister of Justice, I was informed that there were also plans to draft a witness protection law and a law broadening the subject-matter jurisdiction of the magistrate’s courts, where possible. These steps need to be supported, particularly as progress is now being made on the creation of the first hub — of a total five security and justice hubs — in Gbanga, for which an initial disbursement of funds from the Peacebuilding Fund has already been made available. I anticipate that several buildings within the hub will have been constructed by the time the configuration visits Liberia this coming June. It remains a great concern of mine that efforts by the Liberians to rebuild their court system will require a considerable amount of time, and so the system itself will likely remain weak and penetrable in the short term. There is, however, an idea being promoted within the Liberian Government — although I hasten to add that it is still in its infancy — that has generated some interest, focusing on the establishment of special courts for serious economic crimes with, potentially, a specialized police force. In view of the threat posed by transnational organized crime to Liberia and other countries of the subregion, I believe this to be an idea worth investigating in greater detail with the Liberian Government. As a general rule, the approach I feel the Peacebuilding Commission needs to adopt is for us to take the excellent ideas generated by the Liberian officials themselves, such as the creation of the hub, the creation of a historical commission or the creation of special courts for serious economic crimes, and to explore with them the manner in which we could most be helpful. Finally, prior to my last visit to Liberia, I had very useful discussions in Washington, D.C., with officials from the United States Department of Defense and from the United States State Department, including the United States Agency for International Development. I also met with international civil society actors engaged in Liberia and had very interesting meetings with the World Bank. I also held talks in Brussels with European Union officials who are involved in Liberia and was very much impressed by their insights. Here in New York, my meetings with INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Centre for Transitional Justice all were extremely beneficial. In all those discussions, I was encouraged to find a convergence of opinion: we all marvelled at how Liberia has achieved so much since the end of the fighting in 2003, but all realized fully just how breathtaking the challenges confronting Liberia still are, and that, ultimately, we take nothing for granted.

I now give the floor to the representative of Liberia.

I am grateful for the opportunity to make this brief statement as the Council prepares to consider the twenty-second progress report on the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) (S/2011/72). Let me begin by thanking the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia, Ms. Ellen Margrethe Løj, and Prince Zeid for their insightful presentations. My Government appreciates the committed services being rendered to Liberia by these two eminent persons, in particular their respective contributions to the process of peacebuilding and peace consolidation in Liberia. I would like to also thank the Secretary-General, the Council, the men and women in UNMIL and the countries that have contributed them, and the rest of the international community for their steadfast support for Liberia. Indeed, many of the Governments which you, the members of the Council, represent — including yours, Mr. President — continue to provide valuable support to Liberia’s recovery. It is only through this combination of global efforts within the United Nations framework, strong bilateral partnerships and an unwavering commitment of the Government of Liberia that Liberians can truly envisage enduring peace, stability and equitable growth and development. When the present Government, under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, assumed its responsibilities in 2006, the situation in Liberia was indeed dire. Significant gains have been made since then, and in some respects Liberia has achieved certain goals in record time. In other areas, however, progress has not met expectations, and many challenges remain. The report under consideration today presents a balanced picture of progress and constraints, systemic weaknesses and critical gaps. It confirms, indeed, that Liberia still has some way to go. Liberia’s request in May last year to be placed on the agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission was underpinned by its acknowledgement of those critical gaps and a determination to address them. The Commission’s engagement with Liberia provides a platform and framework for accelerating action in the priority areas of the rule of law, security sector reform and national reconciliation, areas which are inextricably linked to UNMIL’s benchmarks and transition strategy. It is important, therefore, that activities on both tracks be carefully synchronized and that decisions be guided by the realities on the ground. Liberia has reached a critical turning point. Critical because Liberians, in a few months’ time, will be going to the polls to choose their leaders in the country’s second post-conflict elections. This exercise is crucial, as it will test the commitment to democratic governance and the ability to manage democratic processes in a peaceful manner. Against the backdrop of this preoccupation with national elections, developments in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and the spillover effect of a continuing influx of refugees into Liberia give rise to serious concern. Not only do these developments present security challenges, as the Special Representative noted earlier, they impose a heavy burden on a Government and a people whose resources are already extremely limited. Moreover, the cross-border activities heighten the country’s vulnerability and present risks of destabilization. We would like to urge the international community to maintain critical focus on the escalating crisis in the sisterly country of Côte d’Ivoire, as we fear that failure to resolve the impasse could undermine the gains made not only in Liberia, but also in the West African subregion. We ask you, Mr. President, and members of the Council not to allow the situations in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire to become forgotten humanitarian crises. There is an urgent need for resources to enable the humanitarian community and the Government of Liberia to prepare an effective response to the growing protection needs of those who have been displaced internally and externally.

I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.