Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-06-Speech-4-151"
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"en.20070906.19.4-151"2
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"Mr President, I was lucky enough to be part of the Election Observation Mission that participated in the elections held in August in Sierra Leone and I must say first and foremost that we were all extremely impressed with how professionally the mission, led by my Group colleague, Mrs Isler Béguin, was run and is still being run.
As such, I had the opportunity to be able to visit the Special Court
and hear directly from Mrs Mansaray, head of the Registry, about the work the Court is doing. During the visit we were constantly told that if there were no justice there would be no peace. That is precisely why this Court is so important. As stated many times in this resolution, it is crucial for the continued consolidation of the peace process in Sierra Leone to ensure that the crimes do not go unpunished
It was very expensive and it costs a lot of money because the Court’s work has been of epic proportions; ensuring complete respect for the rule of law in a country that has been devastated by a civil war is very difficult. The first task was to gather all the testimonies and that was no mean feat: the population had to be convinced that there would be no reprisals and that they would not be subjected to any more humiliation.
The second task was to convince the people that all those involved in human rights violations could be tried, not just the guerrilla leaders. In addition, I must point out that the defence of the accused has been scrupulously respected. The Court also took a historic decision in 2004 to refuse to recognise the applicability of a national amnesty for the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Without justice then, there is no peace. It is thus important to contribute to the funding of this Court. We are obliged to contribute towards peace and stability in the Mano River region. The Special Court is itself an example for the reform of Sierra Leone’s judicial system and I would call on the Commission here to look into the possibility of providing financial support for the projects carried out by the United Nations with a view to reforming the country’s judicial system."@en1
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