Answers to common questions about OWECC-L and the path to justice in Liberia.
About OWECC-L
OWECC-L is a Liberian government office. Its job is to get everything ready for two new courts: the War and Economic Crimes Court and the National Anti-Corruption Court.
It stands for the Office for the Establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia.
No. OWECC-L cannot try anyone, convict anyone, or send anyone to jail. It is doing the preparation work so that real courts can be built.
Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) studied the civil war and recommended that a special court be created to judge the worst crimes committed during it. Years later, the President created OWECC-L to make that recommendation happen.
The President of Liberia H.E. Joseph N. Boakai created OWECC-L through an Executive Order (a formal presidential directive), based on a resolution passed jointly by both houses of the Legislature.
OWECC-L researches how to design the courts, talks to the public about the process, works with lawmakers on the draft laws, works with other countries for support, and keeps records safe for future use as evidence.
No. OWECC-L does not investigate individual cases or gather evidence against specific people. That work belongs to the courts and prosecutors once they are established.
No. OWECC-L has no power to decide anyone's guilt or innocence. Only a court, after a fair trial, can do that.
No. OWECC-L is a separate government office. It is not a police agency and has no arrest powers.
OWECC-L's headquarters is in Monrovia.
Yes. OWECC-L has opened Regional Offices in five counties to reach communities outside the capital, for example, the Bomi Regional Office in Tubmanburg, which also serves Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu Counties.
OWECC-L is led by an Executive Director, currently Dr. Cllr. Jallah A. Barbu (Prof.), supported by directors, regional coordinators, and staff across the country.
Not in its current form. Once the courts are actually running, OWECC-L is expected to hand over its records and knowledge and become part of the courts' permanent administration.
Temporary. OWECC-L exists to prepare for the courts, not to run them forever. Its mandate is renewed by the President from time to time and has an expected end point.
Why These Courts, and Why Now
During Liberia's civil conflicts, terrible crimes were committed, killings, torture, and more and almost no one has ever been held responsible in a Liberian court. The WECC is meant to finally hold accountable those most responsible.
Serious crimes connected to the civil war period things like war crimes and major economic crimes tied to the conflict, such as large-scale looting or illegal resource exploitation that helped fund the fighting.
Corruption, stealing or misusing public money and power remains a serious, ongoing problem. A dedicated court can handle these cases more quickly and with more specialized skill than the general court system.
Corruption is when someone in a position of trust often a public official abuses that position for personal gain, such as taking bribes, stealing public funds, or awarding contracts unfairly.
Time does not erase what victims went through. Waiting longer only makes evidence harder to find and witnesses harder to reach. Many Liberians, including OWECC-L, believe it is better late than never.
The TRC did very important work it collected testimony and told the story of what happened. But the TRC was not a court. It could not put anyone on trial. It recommended that a real court be created to do that.
Among other things, the TRC recommended establishing a court often called an Extraordinary Criminal Court in its report to prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for war-era crimes, and it also recommended reforms to fight corruption.
Turning a recommendation into an actual, working court takes sustained political will, careful legal drafting, and public support all of which took years to build. OWECC-L's creation and current work represent that process finally moving forward.
No. The WECC is a court of law, not a weapon. It follows legal procedure evidence, fair hearings, defense lawyers which is the opposite of the chaos of war.
It means the different ways a country tries to deal fairly with a violent past through truth-telling, courts, reparations for victims, and reforms so the country can move forward without repeating that past.
Money and Resources
This has not been decided yet. The full cost depends on choices the Legislature has not yet made like how big the courts will be and how they'll be staffed. That will be worked out once the laws are passed.
OWECC-L's current preparatory work is funded at about US$2,000,000 per year, paid in installments through the Ministry of Justice. This pays for OWECC-L's own work not the future courts' operating budget.
Mainly the Government of Liberia, through the national budget.
Liberia is expected to seek some financial and technical support from international partners, the way many countries do for major justice projects. But this would add to, not replace, Liberia's own funding.
Liberia is committing its own budget to this process now, and is seeking extra support from partners for the bigger phase ahead. It is a real financial commitment, but one the Government has chosen to prioritize.
Reasonable people disagree on priorities, and OWECC-L takes that concern seriously. But unresolved impunity has its own costs to trust in government, to victims, and to long-term peace which OWECC-L believes justifies this investment.
There is no indication that this specific process would require new taxes; it is being funded through the existing national budget process.
OWECC-L is required to report its spending regularly to the Presidency, and those reports are subject to independent audit. OWECC-L is committed to being transparent about its use of public funds.
Who Can Be Tried, and For What
1979 to 2003, the same period the Truth and Reconciliation Commission examined.
It means the WECC's authority to prosecute is focused on that period. Events outside that window would generally fall under Liberia's ordinary laws and courts instead.
Generally, those believed to bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes — not every single person who was ever involved in the conflict.
Yes, in principle. Being wealthy or influential is not supposed to protect anyone from prosecution. Whether a specific person is actually charged is a decision for independent prosecutors once the court exists.
Yes, in principle holding office does not automatically shield someone from prosecution, though some constitutional rules about timing may apply to sitting officials.
Yes, if there is evidence they bear serious responsibility for crimes covered by the court regardless of which side they fought on.
Under international standards, children recruited into war are considered victims of that recruitment, even if they were made to do terrible things. Responsibility is generally assessed based on age at the time of the act. But it will be up to the Prosecution to decide based on the laws and the nature of the case.
Courts elsewhere facing this exact question have generally focused prosecution on commanders and leaders, not on the children they recruited and used. How this applies in Liberia will be for the court's prosecutors to decide, guided by these same standards.
A dead person cannot be put on trial, criminal cases end when the accused dies. But separate legal processes may still allow the recovery of property that was stolen or illegally acquired.
Many legal systems allow the government to recover stolen or illegally gotten property through a separate legal process, even years later. Whether and how Liberia will do this will be defined in the new laws.
Courts can often “freeze” property connected to a crime while a case is ongoing, to stop someone from hiding or selling it. This is usually done carefully, with a judge's approval, to prevent abuse.
No, the WECC is expected to focus on the most serious cases and those most responsible. Lower-level or less serious matters may instead be addressed through community-based approaches (see "Community Justice and the Palava Hut").
The Death Penalty, Judges, and How the Court Is Built
Yes, on paper. It remains in Liberia's laws, but no one has actually been executed since 2000, so in practice Liberia has not used it for over two decades.
This is being actively debated, and OWECC-L has recommended that the answer should be no that the WECC's law should clearly say no one it convicts can be sentenced to death.
Not as a strict legal rule. But it is close to a requirement in practice for the kind of court Liberia wants to build, for reasons explained in the next question.
Liberia wants the WECC to include international judges and prosecutors (see the next question). The United Nations has a firm policy: it will not help run any court that could sentence someone to death. Keeping the death penalty could mean losing that international support.
A hybrid court mixes Liberian judges and staff with judges and staff from other countries or the international community, working together on the same cases. It's a team made partly of Liberians, partly of outside experts.
Liberia's own Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended a mixed, international-plus-Liberian model, similar to courts used in other countries after war (like Sierra Leone). The idea is to combine local knowledge with international experience in these kinds of complex cases.
The plan is both, a hybrid bench. The exact mix will be spelled out in the final law.
This will be decided in the law that creates the court. It is not yet finalized.
Likely a similar formal process will apply, but the specific steps for these particular judges will be set out in the new law.
Not yet decided. A location will be chosen as part of the planning that follows once the law is passed.
Not yet finalized. It may be a brand-new, specially trained team, rather than existing Ministry of Justice staff handling it alongside their regular work similar to how Rwanda built a dedicated unit for its own war crimes cases.
Possibly, but many similar courts elsewhere found it worked better to build a dedicated, specially trained team instead. This choice will be made in the enabling law.
Not yet decided. Comparable courts elsewhere have usually been given a set period to complete their work, rather than running forever.
Not yet known. It depends on how much evidence exists and how prosecutors decide to prioritize the most serious cases.
Fairness, Evidence, and Independence
That is the goal, and it is why so much of the design work judge selection, legal protections, transparency focuses specifically on preventing unfair outcomes and political interference.
The law is expected to include protections meant to stop this rules that keep judges and prosecutors independent from political pressure. OWECC-L has specifically recommended strong protections of this kind.
A combination of legal protections written into the law, and public and media attention people watching closely makes interference harder to hide.
Yes, more than many people assume. The TRC alone collected a huge amount of testimony. There are also human rights reports, journalist records, and some physical evidence still available.
TRC records, past human rights investigations, documents, and living witnesses who are still willing and able to testify.
Their case does not automatically fail. Earlier statements they gave for example, to the TRC may still be used as evidence, along with other supporting proof.
Yes. OWECC-L's regional offices are actively collecting and digitally saving documents, photos, and testimony now, specifically so this evidence is not lost while we wait for the court to be built.
Yes. A fair trial requires that the accused have legal representation and the chance to properly defend themselves.
It's about lawful accountability, not revenge. A court operates under rules evidence, defense rights, a fair hearing which is the opposite of revenge, which has no rules at all.
The basic rights any fair legal system guarantees: to know the charges against them, to have a lawyer, to see the evidence, and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Liberia, the World, and Who's in Charge
No. Liberia is a sovereign country, and this is a Liberian legal decision. The UN or any foreign government does not need to sign off on it.
No. This process grew out of Liberia's own Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the decisions of Liberia's own government and Legislature.
No. Under Liberia's Constitution, only the Legislature can create a court with the power to convict and sentence people. The President can create preparatory offices like OWECC-L, but not the courts themselves.
Because Liberia's Constitution splits power between different branches of government, and giving a court the power to judge and sentence people is something only elected lawmakers can authorize.
Liberia can still move forward on its own. International help money, expertise, cooperation on suspects abroad makes the process stronger, but it is not strictly required to establish the courts.
Yes, through a formal legal request called extradition. Whether another country agrees depends on that country's own laws and its relationship with Liberia.
It's the formal legal process of asking another country to send someone back to Liberia to face trial.
No. Foreign judges who join the hybrid court would work as part of the Liberian court system, under Liberian law not as outsiders controlling Liberia from abroad.
Victims, Witnesses, and You
It aims to strengthen trust in government, discourage future abuses of power, give victims real recognition, and show that no one no matter how powerful is above the law.
The TRC's central recommendation would remain unfulfilled, and serious crimes from the war would likely go unanswered permanently which many believe would weaken trust in the whole justice system.
Formal recognition of what happened to them, a chance to participate in cases connected to them, and possibly reparations (see the next question).
OWECC-L is working on a reparations framework a plan for how victims might be supported or compensated. The details are still being developed, with input from victims themselves.
Yes, that is the plan structured ways for victims to take part in cases relevant to them, not just watch from the outside.
Protecting witnesses is expected to be a formal part of the court's design, including measures to keep witnesses safe before, during, and after they testify.
No, not for the testimony itself paying witnesses can make their evidence look unreliable in court. Reasonable travel or logistical support connected to testifying is a different, separate matter.
Protection plans in similar courts elsewhere often extend to close family members when there's a real threat to them. Liberia's specific rules on this will be set once the court is running.
That fear is understandable, and it's exactly why witness protection is being built into the court's design. You can also share concerns with OWECC-L now, ahead of the court opening.
Not yet decided. This will be worked out as part of the courts' infrastructure planning, with safety and security as a required consideration.
Security and safety for the public and for anyone in custody will be a required part of that planning, in line with Liberia's general obligations for how people in custody must be treated.
OWECC-L welcomes public input; specific confidentiality procedures for the courts themselves will be finalized as part of witness protection rules once the courts are operational.
You can still share general information or concerns with OWECC-L. Formal testimony, with its legal protections, would only be requested once relevant, and always with your safety in mind.
OWECC-L's regional offices run victim engagement activities and are working on broader support planning. If you need help now, your nearest OWECC-L regional office is a good place to start.
Where Things Stand, and How to Get Involved
Not that far. OWECC-L has been created, nationwide consultations have happened, the draft laws have been written, and the President has sent those draft laws to the Legislature. The next big step is for the Legislature to pass them.
Not yet. The draft laws are before the National Legislature, which must debate and vote on them.
Passing major new laws takes time, debate, review, and votes in both houses of the Legislature. This is the current stage.
That depends on when the Legislature passes the laws, so an exact date isn't possible yet. Once passed, there will still be a period of setting up staff, buildings, and procedures before the first case begins.
Attend an OWECC-L community meeting, visit a Regional Office, websites and social media handles or reach out to OWECC-L Headquarters directly.
You can contact OWECC-L Headquarters or your nearest Regional Office directly by phone, in person, or through OWECC-L's official communications channels.
Yes. OWECC-L runs school outreach programs and, in some areas, Transitional Justice Clubs where students can learn and ask questions directly.
Yes. OWECC-L's Communications Unit works directly with journalists for interviews, official statements, and briefings. Information is also regularly posted on the official OWECC-L website and social media accounts.
Both. OWECC-L holds community meetings, town halls, and school visits, in addition to being reachable at its offices.
Through OWECC-L Headquarters in Monrovia, or through a Regional Office, phone, email, or social media.
Community Justice and the Palava Hut
The plan is for the WECC to focus on the most serious cases and the people most responsible. Less serious matters are expected to be handled through community-based approaches instead which is currently being studied.
The Palava Hut is a traditional Liberian way of resolving disputes at the community level people gather, talk things through, and seek reconciliation, rather than going through a formal court.
Not exactly as it currently exists. OWECC-L has recommended building a new, purpose-designed community process for conflict-era matters, informed by the Palava Hut tradition but not simply reusing it unchanged.
War-era harm is different from everyday community disputes, and OWECC-L is concerned that reusing the existing tradition unmodified could feel unfair to victims or blur it with unrelated local matters. A distinct process is recommended instead.
That will be up to the court's prosecutors, guided by rules set out in the law generally based on how serious the case is and how much responsibility the accused person bears.
Likely yes, in some form, alongside the main laws creating the WECC and NACC. This is one of the next things OWECC-L is working to develop.
It's designed to deliver a different kind of justice focused on truth-telling, accountability, and reconciliation at the community level rather than replacing prison sentences for the most serious crimes, which stay with the formal court.
Liberia is learning from Rwanda's experience, including Gacaca, but is not copying it directly. Liberia's community process is being designed specifically to fit Liberia's own culture and needs.
They may go through the community-level process instead of the formal court focused on acknowledgment, dialogue, and reconciliation rather than a criminal trial.
Yes, they are expected to play an important role in community-level reconciliation efforts, given their standing and trust within communities.
Simple Words Explained
The different ways a country deals fairly with a violent past truth-telling, courts, support for victims, and reform so it can move forward.
Making sure people answer for serious wrongs they committed through a fair legal process, not revenge.
A serious violation of the rules that are supposed to apply even during war such as deliberately targeting civilians or torture.
Large-scale theft, looting, or illegal profiteering for example, illegally exploiting natural resources to fund fighting during the war.
A court staffed by both Liberian and international judges and lawyers working together on the same cases.
Getting away with a serious wrong facing no consequences at all.
The process of repairing relationships and trust between people or communities after conflict or harm.
An official, temporary pause on doing something for example, a promise not to carry out any executions, without formally changing the law yet.
The legal process of formally accusing someone of a crime and presenting the case against them in court.
The guarantee that legal cases follow fair rules like the right to a lawyer and a fair hearing before anyone can be punished.
Everyday Questions
You can share what you know with OWECC-L now. There is no obligation to give a formal statement immediately, and your safety will be taken seriously.
Yes, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) already investigates corruption today. The NACC, once created, will be the specialized court where such cases are tried.
Not directly, day to day. OWECC-L's current work is mostly preparation, research, consultation, and planning ahead of the courts becoming active.
OWECC-L encourages open public discussion as part of building understanding and trust in this process. If you ever feel unsafe raising a specific concern, you can also share it privately with OWECC-L.
Yes. OWECC-L actively encourages this and runs school programs specifically to support these conversations.
Yes, in time judges, lawyers, investigators, administrative staff, and support roles will all be needed once the courts are operational.
Yes. OWECC-L runs an internship program and welcomes youth involvement in its ongoing work.
Yes, OWECC-L shares updates through official social media channels and encourages the public to follow along.
Yes. OWECC-L works with civil society organizations, schools, religious institutions, and community groups, and welcomes new partnerships.
Check with OWECC-L directly through Headquarters, a Regional Office, or official OWECC-L communications rather than relying on rumor. These FAQs are one tool for getting accurate information.
No questions match your search.
Still have questions?
Can't find the answer you're looking for? Our team is happy to help.