| In August 2000, the Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing the U.N.secretary-general to enter into negotiations with the Sierra Leonean governmentto establish such a court. OnJanuary 16, 2002, after more than a year of negotiations, the United Nationsand the Sierra Leone government signed an agreement which created the legalframework for the court. The Special Court is charged with bringing to justice thosewho bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity,other serious violations of international humanitarian law, and certainviolations of Sierra Leonean law committed during the civil war in Sierra Leonesince November 1996. As the civil war began in 1991, the period for which the court has jurisdictionis limited to less than half of the civil war. Human Rights Watch hadpreviously urged the U.N. Security Council to extend the temporal jurisdictionof the Special Court to cover the entirety of the war. To date, the Special Court hasindicted thirteen individuals from three warring factions – thegovernment-backed CDF and the rebel forces, the RUF and the AFRC. Theindictees are charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and otherserious violations of humanitarian law for crimes including murder,rape, extermination, acts of terror, enslavement, looting and burning, sexualslavery, conscription of children into an armed force, and attacks onpeacekeepers and humanitarian assistance workers. Nineaccused are currently in custody at the Special Court detention facilitiesfacing trial. The four other indictees – considered to represent some of the“biggest fish” – are dead, missing, or shielded from facing the court. FodaySankoh and Sam “Mosquito” Bockarie died in 2003, after which the court withdrewtheir indictments. Charles Taylor is in exile in Nigeria and Johnny PaulKoroma is believed to be either dead or missing. The Special Court lacks U.N.Chapter VII powers that obligate governments to cooperate with the court. Thismakes the Special Court, unlike the ICTR or the ICTY, dependent on the timely cooperation and compliance ofmember states with its requests and orders in all areas, including theproduction of witness testimony or other evidence, the service of warrants, andthe search, arrest, and surrender of suspects to the Special Court. HumanRights Watch has previously urged the United Nations to grant the Special CourtChapter VII powers. In another difference from the ad hoc tribunals, theagreement establishing the Special Court provides for the court to have aManagement Committee. The Management Committee’s mandate is to “assist theSecretary-General in obtaining adequate funding, and provide advice and policydirection on all non-judicial aspects of the operation of the Court, includingquestions of efficiency, and to perform other functions as agreed by interestedStates.” Its terms of reference provide that the committee is responsible for a numberof important functions, including: identification of nominees for the positionsof registrar, prosecutor, and judges appointed by the secretary-general;providing guidance on non-judicial aspects of Special Court operations;overseeing the Special Court’s annual budget and other financially relatedreports, and advising the secretary-general on these; assisting thesecretary-general on ensuring adequate funding for the court; encouragingcooperation by states; and reporting regularly to interested states. The committee is made up of important financial contributors and othersupporters of the Special Court and comprises representatives from Canada, theNetherlands, Nigeria, Lesotho, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
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