This issue is especially important now that new Nigerian troops are about to be deployed in Sierra Leone. Such investigations should be conducted by the civilian human rights component of the force. The unit should have an explicit mandate to conduct such investigations and their results should be acted upon as a matter of highest priority by the operation's leadership. Independent from the monitoring mechanism, all troops to be deployed in Sierra Leone must receive basic training in humanitarian law and the laws of war prior to their deployment. Humanitarian law advisers should be deployed with the troops in order to ensure the highest possible protection for the civilian population.
Monitoring is only effective if it is tied to meaningful discipline and accountability.
It is therefore essential that the U.N. press for and report on the process of holding soldiers accountable within their national civilian and military justice systems. The release of the Secretary-General's report has been postponed once again. We therefore would like to reiterate our previous main recommendations, made in the aftermath of the Security Council's passing Resolution 1315. We are particularly concerned about the government of Sierra Leone's insistence and the OLA's reported agreement to include juveniles in the jurisdiction of the court. Human Rights Watch has recommended that the Special Court for Sierra Leone should have no jurisdiction over persons who were under the age of eighteen at the time they were alleged to have committed a crime which would otherwise come within the jurisdiction of the Special Court.