Transitional Justice and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

In late June, Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report. Aside from recommending that more than 200 people face prosecution for crimes committed during the country’s civil war, including several sitting members of the legislature, the report recommended that Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, be barred from public office for 30 years for giving financial support to Charles Taylor’s armed faction.

Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first woman president and an icon of the international women’s movement, is supported by human rights and advocacy groups throughout the world, including Open Society. Her censure has generally been understood as a bizarre outcome of a transitional justice process gone awry.

When Steinberg visited Liberia in July, he discovered surprisingly strong popular support for the censuring of Johnson Sirleaf, even among people who voted for her. At a recent discussion, he unpacked what is happening in Liberia, and what the lessons might be for transitional justice more broadly.

Listen above.