Section 19, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2000

(1) The President shall, not later than three months after the submission of thereport of the Commission to him, dissolve the Commission by notice in a statutory instrument. (2) before it is dissolved, the members of the Commission shall, among the final administrative activities of the Commission - (a) organise its archives and records, as appropriate, for possible future reference, giving special consideration to - (i) what materials or information might be made available to the public of Sierra Leone, either immediately or when conditions and resources allow; and (ii) what measures may be necessary to protect confidential information; and (b) organise the disposal of the remaining property of the Commission. SCHEDULE - (Subsection (1) of section 3) Procedure for the Selection of Nominees for Appointment to the Commission To best ensure the Commission’s independence and credibility, the members of the Commission shall be selected through a consultative process relying on both national and international expertise as follows: (a) The four national members of the Commission shall be selected as follows:- (i) Nominations, which may be put forward by anyone within or outside Sierra Leone, should be submitted to the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sierra Leone, who will serve as Selection Coordinator. (ii) With the assistance of an advisory committee, and after broad consultation with a cross-section of Sierra Leonean society and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Selection Coordinator shall draw up a list of 10 to 20 finalists. The advisory committee shall include a representative of the National Council of Paramount Chiefs, a representative of the Inter-Religious Council, and a member of the international community based in Sierra Leone, and perhaps others, at the discretion of the Selection Coordinator. (iii) Each of the finalists will be interviewed by a Selection Panel of six persons, composed of one member appointed by each of the following: - the President, the Revolutionary United Front, the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, the Inter-religious Council, the National Forum for Human Rights and the National Commission for Democracy and Human Rights (or the Human Rights Commission, as set out in the Lome Peace Agreement, if such a Commission has been inaugurated). (iv) The Selection Panel shall then rank and provide comments regarding each of the finalists to the Selection Coordinator on a confidential basis. Where possible, the Selection Panel should submit consensus views on finalists, though rankings and comments may be submitted individually by each panelist if views differ. In addition, the Selection Panel should suggest a possible Chair for the Commission, especially if consensus can be reached on such recommendation. The Selection Coordinator shall assist the Selection Panel as needed and may establish a deadline for its submission. (v) Based on the recommendations from the Selection Panel and the criteria established in subsection (2) of section 3, the Selection Coordinator shall recommend four citizens members for appointment to the Commission, and will suggest a possible Chair. Both the Selection Panel and the Selection Coordinator should take into account gender representation and regional considerations in making their selections. While the four members might not necessarily be from each of the four regions of the country, the Commission as a whole should represent the interests and perspectives of the country at large. If further regional representation is later desired, the Commission itself might co-opt representatives from each of the country’s four regions. (b) Suggestions for non-citizen members may be submitted directly to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or to the Selection Coordinator who will forward them to the High Commissioner. Giving due consideration to those suggestions, but not limited to those, the High Commissioner for Human Rights will recommend three persons who are not citizens of Sierra Leone for appointment to the Commission, including one person proposed as possible Chair. The High Commissioner for Human Rights shall first submit these recommendations to the Selection Panel, with an invitation to make comments, before submitting them to the President. SOLOMON E. BEREWA Attorney-General and Minister of Justice February 2000 MEMORANDUM OF OBJECTS AND REASONS (attached to the Bill) The object of this Bill is to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission proposed by Article XXVI of the Lome Peace Agreement as part of the process of healing the wounds of the armed conflict which began in 1991. By clause 2 of the Bill, the Commission is being established as a body corporate. Section 1 of Article XXVI of the Peace Agreement envisaged the proceedings of the Commission as a catharsis for constructive interchange between the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses and from this catharsis the Commission is to compile ‘a clear picture of the past’. Accordingly, by clause 6, the principal function of the Commission is to create an impartial historical record of events in question as the basis for the task of preventing their recurrence. To best ensure the Commission’s independence and impartiality, the members of the Commission are to be appointed after a selection process involving both national and international expertise as stipulated in the Schedule to the Bill and involving a Selection Panel on which all the protagonists to the conflict and other interested parties are represented; (clause 3). By clause 5, the Commission shall operate for one year preceded by a period of three months during which the Commission is to carry out all the ground work necessary for its effectiveness when operations begin. For good cause shown, the term of the Commission may be extended by the President by statutory instrument for a period of six months. Under clause 12, the Commission is required to raise the funds to finance its operations from both governmental and international non-governmental sources to which it is required to submit quarterly reports to account for the moneys donated (clause 13). Under clause 15, the Commission reports to the President who will then arrange to send copies of the report to the U.N. and Parliament. By clause 18, the Government is required to set up a follow-up Committee to monitor and stimulate the progress of the implementation of the Commission’s findings. Under clause 19, the President is required to dissolve the Commission by notice in a statutory instrument not later than three months after the submission of the Commission’s report.