Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Liberia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Liberia. Some of these links may lead to websites that
present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Liberia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/liberia/
[accessed 26 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The constitution
and law prohibit such practices; however, there were reports that government
authorities allegedly abused, harassed, and intimidated persons in custody as
well as those seeking protection. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were at times harsh and life threatening due to food shortages, gross
overcrowding, inadequate sanitary conditions, and poor medical care. Physical
Conditions: Gross overcrowding continued to be a problem. The Bureau of
Corrections and Rehabilitation reported the prison population in the
country’s 16 facilities was almost twice the planned capacity. Approximately
one-half of the country’s 2,572 prisoners were at the Monrovia Central
Prison, which was originally built for 374 detainees but as of December held
1,230. The local nongovernmental organization (NGO) Prison Fellowship Liberia
reported that overcrowding in Block D of the Monrovia Central Prison required
prisoners to sleep in shifts. The majority of juveniles were in pretrial
detention. Pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners were held together. In
some cases men and women were held together, and juveniles were held with
adults. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Those arraigned
were often held in lengthy pretrial detention. Some detainees, particularly
among the majority who lacked the means to hire a lawyer, were held for more
than 48 hours without charge. The law also provides that, once detained, a
criminal defendant must be indicted during the next succeeding 90-day term of
court after arrest or, if the indicted defendant is not tried within the next
succeeding court term and no cause is given, the case against the defendant
is to be dismissed; nevertheless, cases were rarely dismissed on either
ground. Approximately 50 percent of pretrial detainees nationwide had been
incarcerated for more than two terms of court without a hearing. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/liberia/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 18 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? The security
environment in Liberia has improved dramatically in the years since warfare
ended in 2003. However, the police force is still viewed as corrupt, and
lacks the financial support to provide robust protection for Liberia’s
people. Prison conditions are very poor, and reports of abuse and threats
against detainees and prisoners by law enforcement agents and prison guards
continue. Liberia: What Hope
for Human Rights? Sabrina Mahtani, chercheuse d'Amnesty
International sur l'Afrique de l'Ouest,
9 October 2017 www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/10/liberia-what-hope-for-human-rights/ [accessed 6 January
2019] Rodney describes
his time in prison as “three months in hell”. Alarming stories of life in
prison in Liberia continue. In June, a female inmate became pregnant by a
male prisoner at Tubmanburg Central Prison after
being coerced into sex. Prison officers knowingly facilitated access between
the inmates. She was subsequently taken by prison officers and forced to have
an abortion. Following an investigation by the Independent National
Commission for Human Rights and the Department for Corrections, several
prison officers were dismissed. Across Liberia prison
conditions remain appalling and prisoners suffer from overcrowding in dark,
dirty cells without adequate food or health care. The majority
of prisoners have not been convicted and can spend years waiting in
pre-trial detention because they can’t access legal aid and due to lengthy
delays in the justice system. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 PRISON CONDITIONS - Following a 2011
Amnesty International report on prison conditions, the government restricted
the access of national and international organizations to prisons and prison
data. By the end of the
year, the government had failed to make public a report by the UN
Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, following a 2011 visit to inspect
places of detention. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=liberia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 6 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61577.htm [accessed 4 February
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61577.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law prohibits
such practices; however, prior to August 2003, police and security forces
frequently tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise humiliated persons,
particularly during interrogations of LURD detainees at the Gbatala security training base. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil
Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/liberia [accessed 4 February
2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] The police force is
being restructured under the 2003 peace accord. While it has reached its
planned strength of 3,500 officers, it still faces a lack of equipment and,
at times, a lack of discipline; reports of police intimidation and abuse
continue. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Liberia", http://gvnet.com/torture/Liberia.htm, [accessed <date>] |
