The National Transitional Government was established under ...

The National Transitional Government was established under the September 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement following 14 years of civil war. The war came to an end with all-party peace talks in August 2003, after the capitulation of then-President Charles Taylor to international pressure and rebel forces. Under Taylor’s rule, Liberia was frequently denounced for human rights violations by international and humanitarian organizations. The National Transitional Government led the country up to Presidential elections held in October and November 2005. Economist and former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won the run-off against former footballer George Weah in the second round of the poll. She took office in January 2006, becoming Africa’s first elected woman head of state.
In July 2008, following a string of armed robberies that threatened to shatter the fragile peace in Liberia, the Parliament adopted the Armed Robbery Act, including provisions allowing for the death penalty for homicides committed during acts of armed robbery, terrorism or hijacking. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who could have opposed the legislation, signed it into law on 22 July 2008.
Liberian law already included the possibility of the death penalty, but the new law goes against Liberia’s international commitments.
On 16 September 2005, in fact, the National Transitional Government, led by Charles Gyude Bryant, subscribed to 103 international treaties. Among others, Liberia acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
Liberia’s endorsement of the international treaties was hailed by then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as “a landmark in Liberia’s journey away from a difficult past and towards a more tenable future grounded in the rule of law, respect for human rights and good democratic governance.” However,
Liberia should have in principle abolished the death penalty after its accession to the Second Optional Protocol in 2005, but some members of Parliament have been questioning the Protocol’s status. “The President may have signed an international document aiming at abolishing the death penalty, but the Parliament knew nothing about. No such document was ratified by the Assembly,” Isaac Red, the Chamber of Representatives’ spokesman, said.
In a release from the Executive Mansion, President Johnson-Sirleaf indicated that she is fully cognizant that Liberia as a State Party is a signatory to the UN’s Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. However, the release continued, saying that she shares the view and responded to the appeal of the majority of citizens for a robust response to the increasing level of crime involving robberies that include physical assault, rape and murder by robbers who attack innocent citizens, thereby creating panic and a crisis of confidence in the society. The President has also said that she remains committed to revisiting the Act for possible amendment as soon as the situation is brought fully under control and sustainable peace is assured.
On 26 August 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed deep concern at new death penalty legislation. The Committee, in charge of monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), stated, “The Act signed by the President of Liberia constitutes a clear breach by Liberia of its international legal obligations under the Second Optional Protocol.” The rights body urged Liberia “to revisit the Act for possible amendment as soon as possible,” and encouraged it, in the meantime, “to maintain the moratorium in place since 1979.”
The Second Optional Protocol commits its members to three main obligations: it forbids them to resort to executions, asks that members abolish the death penalty within their jurisdictions and abstain from reintroducing it. Under customary international law, as reflected in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which Liberia ratified on 29 August 1985, a State “may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as a justification for its failure to perform a treaty.”
However, on 1 November 2010, during the Country’s review under the Universal Periodic Review, the Country’s delegation strongly affirmed that, “despite concerns regarding the [Armed Robbery] Act, Liberia remained committed to honouring its regional and international human rights obligations.” The delegation accepted to examine and provide a response at the March 2011 session of the Human Rights Council on recommendations to repeal the July 2008 law that allows the death penalty, in line with Liberia’s obligations under the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR.
On 15 March 2011, the Government of Liberia presented its responses to recommendations, stating, “The Republic of Liberia acknowledges its international obligations under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Ergo, the Government and the people of Liberia are having consultations, with a view to repealing the Death Penalty Law, which have started in the form of raising awareness and sensitization. It is clear withal, that even though the Death Penalty Law was enacted at a time that high armed robbery rates deemed such deterrent measure necessary, the Supreme Court has up till now not affirmed any death penalty sentence and has shown disinclination to enforce death penalties in recent cases by commuting capital punishment into life imprisonment. Furthermore, the current administration, headed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has not signed any warrant to carry out the execution of a death sentence.”
The last executions in Liberia, 14, took place in 2000. In 2011, only one new death sentence was imposed in Liberia, according to Amnesty International and 3 were imposed in 2012.
On December 18, 2014, Liberia, as in previous years, abstained from the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.