Liberia pushes toward accountability: War crimes courts, anti-corruption reform and rights for informal workers

More than two decades after the end of Liberia's civil wars, efforts to hold perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable are gathering pace with the government moving to establish long-delayed war crimes and economic crimes courts.

Liberia, Africa's first independent state, endured 14 years of civil conflict between 1989 and 2003. More than 250,000 people were killed, mostly civilians, and the rule of law collapsed across large parts of the country.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in 2005 under the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Its final report, released in December 2009, issued over 200 recommendations, including the creation of an Extraordinary Criminal Court (ECC) for Liberia to prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for gross human rights violations, serious breaches of international humanitarian law, and corruption-related offences committed during the civil crises.

That recommendation went unimplemented for 15 years.

Momentum returned in 2024, when the President signed Executive Order 131, creating the Office for the Establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia (OWECC-L). This office was tasked with advising on a hybrid judicial model for the future War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC), drawing on other internationally established jurisdictions, and with drafting legislation for a National Anti-Corruption Court (NACC) to try corruption offences linked to the wars. President Boakai renewed the office's mandate for a further year on 30 April 2025, through Executive Order 148, and again for a final one-year term ending on 30 April 2027, through Executive Order 164.

The UN's human rights footprint in the country has also evolved. When the UN Mission in Liberia's mandate ended in 2018, UN Human Rights' presence shifted from a mission-based component to a Country Office, tasked with building the capacity of national institutions, civil society, and individuals to promote and protect human rights. Its recent work has centred around transitional justice, anti-corruption and human rights, and the rights of workers in the informal economy.

Closing Liberia’s corruption accountability gap

As part of the UN Human Rights’ efforts to support the national transitional justice process, the Office led in April 2026 a series of engagements to strengthen justice actors’ capacity to investigate and prosecute economic crimes through human rights-based, victim-centred approaches and improve cooperation to advance accountability. Liberia scored 28 out of 100 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index and ranked 136th out of 182 countries, while Afrobarometer’s 2024 survey found that more than half of respondents viewed corruption as widespread across key public institutions.

At a training on corruption investigation and prosecution in Monrovia last April, Pradeep Wagle, Chief of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section at UN Human Rights said, “These are not abstract numbers. They are the measurements of stolen opportunity Corruption systematically erodes the government's capacity to uphold and advance all human rights... It is the force that weakens institutions, and compromises the rule of law, often leading to injustice and impunity.”

Wagle acknowledged Liberia’s efforts to strengthen its legal and institutional framework for combating corruption. He pointed out, however, that further action is needed to ensure that anti-corruption institutions are effective, independent and adequately resourced.

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Corruption is not a victimless white-collar crime; it is a direct assault on the right to life and a primary barrier to closing the development gap that keeps nations in a cycle of dependency.

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Pradeep Wagle, Chief of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section at UN Human Rights

For Wagle, one of the biggest challenges was turning reports of corruption into meaningful accountability. He pointed to figures from the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission showing that, of the 252 corruption cases reported between 2023 and 2024, only 52 contained enough information to be investigated further. The figures, he said, highlight a wider challenge: without reliable data, strong evidence and the necessary technical capacity, holding those responsible to account remains difficult.

“Strengthening our institutional capacity and our data management systems is not just a technical upgrade; it is a human rights imperative,” he said. “When we improve coordination across agencies and ensure that investigative findings translate into effective prosecution, we reinforce public trust and support the realization of the rights of every citizen.”

At a high-level dialogue on anti-corruption organized that same month by UN Human Rights, Wagle urged Senate and House representatives, the Ministers of Justice, Labour, Gender, and other State officials to place victims at the centre of the efforts to strengthen the national judicial response to corruption, including to address the legacy of the war.

“This is just not a cognitive shift. It is the recognition that the whole society is affected by corruption. It is therefore a shift of our focus from the perpetrator’s enrichment to the survivor’s deprivation,” he said, while presenting the key principles of a human rights-based approach to tackling corruption.

The human rights-based approach is not a theoretical preference or just a reference to a treaty provision, he emphasized - it is a legal obligation for the States to make use of the maximum available resources, including through the design and implementation of the macroeconomic and fiscal policies, for the progressive realization of economic, social, and cultural rights.

“As government or duty bearers we ensure that anti-corruption measures are not just about punishment but about seeking justice, redress, and the restoration of public services.”

UN Human Rights’ recommendations included a dedicated anti-corruption court that could close Liberia’s corruption accountability gap, but to be paired with clearer legal definitions of corruption offences, aligned with the UN Convention Against Corruption.

These definitions should neither be so narrow they leave prosecutors unable to meet evidentiary thresholds, nor so broad they invite due-process violations and politically motivated cases. Four further reforms are needed to translate political commitment into results. Courts need time-bound rules for pre-trial proceedings and discovery, and updated procedures for handling digital evidence, to prevent cases from being stalled indefinitely.

Witness protection laws must move from legislative promise to operational reality, backed by independent infrastructure for physical security, identity concealment, and immunity frameworks — without which insiders will stay silent and cases will stay unbuilt. Finally, audit findings from the National Audit Office need a mandatory, real-time referral system to prosecutorial authorities, so that flagged irregularities automatically trigger investigation rather than languishing as unactioned reports.

In a notable development following these activities, on 20 May 2026, the President of Liberia transmitted draft statutes prepared by OWECC-L for the establishment of the WECC and the NACC to the Legislature. In his transmission note, the President said the legislation would strengthen the rule of law, address historical injustices and economic crimes, and bring Liberia's legal framework in line with international standards. UN Human Rights reviewed the drafts and recommended amendments to strengthen their alignment with international human rights norms.

Strengthening rights for Liberia's informal workers

As part of its growing engagement in support of economic, social and cultural rights in Liberia, UN Human Rights is also intensifying efforts to strengthen the rights of workers in the informal economy, the country’s largest source of employment. Engaging 68 percent of the workforce and contributing significantly to the national GDP, the informal sector spans market trading, transport, domestic work, small-scale farming, and artisanal production.

Despite their essential role and contributions, informal workers face precarious working conditions, including unsafe and unhealthy workplaces and low and irregular income, as well as limited labour and social protection in law and in practice. Women, youth and children are particularly marginalized: they are also excluded from decision-making that affects their employment and working conditions.

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These workers sustain families, communities, and economies. And yet — too often — their work remains invisible, undervalued, and unprotected.

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Pradeep Wagle, Chief of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section at UN Human Rights

“… And when their rights are violated, they often have nowhere to turn. No effective complaint mechanisms. No access to remedies. No justice. This is not just a labour issue. It is a human rights issue,” he added.

To promote and protect their rights, the Office last year conducted an analysis of Liberia’s legal and policy framework, along with an assessment of workplace conditions of informal workers in Grand Cape Mount County. Both studies emphasized that intensified efforts are needed by the government, with support from international partners, to formalize informal work through business registration, microfinance access, skills development, and simplified taxation.

Liberia’s ratification of multiple human rights treaties and ILO conventions further reflects a strong normative commitment to protecting all workers. Nonetheless, the analysis and assessment identified significant protection gaps in law and in practice, and insufficient implementation of Liberia’s obligations under the international human rights treaties and labour conventions to which it is a party.

“Workers need stronger access to accountability mechanisms. They need to know their rights. They need to be able to claim them and institutions must be equipped — and willing — to respond,” Wagle said.

Wagle was speaking at an enhanced training to promote access to justice for workers in the informal economy, organized by UN Human Rights in April in Monrovia. The training was held as part of the implementation of the recommendations arising from the National Policy Dialogue on the rights of workers in the informal economy organized in 2025 by UN Human Rights.

Informal economy workers and stakeholders called for reforms to strengthen legal protections, extend social protection, improve workplace safety and health, advance gender equality, and create affordable pathways to formalization. These measures would help safeguard livelihoods, promote decent work, reduce poverty, and support Liberia’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In July 2026, the Ministry of Labour officially registered the Federation of Informal Sector Workers of Liberia (FISWOL) as a trade union, under Section 34.2(A) of the Executive Law and Chapter 36.1(III B(II)) of the Decent Work Act of 2015. The registration marks a significant milestone in strengthening the collective representation and protection of workers in Liberia's informal economy. It also represents the implementation of another key recommendation emerging from the 2025 National Policy Dialogue on the rights of workers in the informal economy.

UN Human Rights’ direct technical assistance, capacity-building, and legal assessment of Liberia's labour laws and policies against international human rights and labour standards contributed to this process. The Office’s support helped strengthen the organization of informal economy workers, informed the development of an advocacy brief, labour law reform, and enhanced their capacity to advocate for improved working conditions and labour protections.

FISWOL welcomed UN Human Rights’ support and outlined its commitment to consolidate its organizational structures, expand representation among informal economy workers nationwide, and advocate for greater access to social protection, decent work, and effective labour rights.

The Office also played a key role in developing Liberia's first National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (2024–2028), supporting a multi-stakeholder process to advance labour rights, corporate due diligence, and access to remedy. This work aligns closely with Liberia's national development plan, the ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, and the UN Cooperation Framework (2026–2030), reinforcing the integration of human rights into governance, economic transformation, and sustainable and lasting peace.