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Contact: Michelle Park, Executive Director (312) 988-6186; parkm@nawl.org

NAWL Urges State Department to Ensure Humanitarian Relief in Liberia

Chicago, IL, November 3, 2003

Mr. Walter Kansteiner
Assistant Secretary for Africa
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Mr. Kansteiner:

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) is a national voluntary legal professional organization devoted to the interests of women lawyers and the promotion of women's rights. Founded in 1899, the NAWL has historically served as an educational forum and an active voice for the concerns of women in the legal profession and women internationally. I write concerning an issue of great concern to NAWL.

NAWL understands that the “Chafee amendment” to the $87 billion supplemental appropriation (S 1689, HR 3289) which Congress approved on October 17 for continued U.S. military occupation and reconstruction in Iraq also contains an allocation of $200 million for humanitarian relief in Liberia. NAWL urges the State Department to ensure that humanitarian relief in Liberia includes relief for the women and children who have been victims of rape during the many years of armed conflict there as widely reported by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and local relief organizations such as the Liberian Concerned Christian Community. NAWL agrees with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that, in this context, rape is used for intimidation, degradation, humiliation, discrimination, punishment, control or destruction of a person, and is thus a crime against humanity, and may be an act of genocide as well. The consequences include not only forced pregnancies, disease, and infertility, but also severe physical and psychological suffering, cultural ostracism, and sometimes suicide. NAWL is concerned that humanitarian relief appropriate to these victims be a government priority.

NAWL further believes that rape and sexual violence should be treated as a war crime and that perpetrators should be prosecuted with the same vigilance as those who commit other crimes against humanity. Thus NAWL is disturbed by the statement of the newly installed president, Gyude Bryant, reported by the Associated Press on October 17, that he does not intend to establish a war crimes tribunal for the “virtually limitless atrocities of his country’s conflict.” We acknowledge that these are complex matters, which this letter cannot attempt to fully entail. The principal point, however, is that justice must accompany American aid wherever it travels, and justice includes taking a stand against sexual violence against women and children. I refer you to the precedent-setting case in Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-I (ICTR, Trial Chamber, online at http://www.un.org/ictr/english/judgements/akayesu.html) in which the defendant was convicted in September of 1998 of rape and other acts of sexual violence. NAWL is confident that a war crimes tribunal is the most effective peaceable tool to stop the atrocities. Thus, NAWL urges you to pursue this as part of the humanitarian relief program.

I thank you in advance for your attention to this important issue and request that you respond at your earliest convenience as to what your Department plans to do. If our organization can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Sincerely,
Zoe Sanders Nettles
President, National Association of Women Lawyers