With the Special Court for Sierra Leone folding up its operations in Sierra Leone and the expectation that it would leave behind its infrastructure and case files and proceeding details as its legacy, a number of youth groups have partnered with the court to bring to sensitize their peers on the court’s current activities which include the ongoing trial of Charles Taylor in Hague, Netherlands.
One of such sensitization activities a symposium, was organized by the Salone Youth and Adolescent Network on Population and Development (SALYAN) and the Youth in Development-Sierra Leone (YD-SL) on the theme, ‘The ongoing Taylor trial in the Hague-Special Court for Sierra Leone and its Legacy’ held in the Lumley Community, West of Freetown.
The symposium supported by the Outreach Section of the Sierra Leone Special Court brought together youth from various organizations and denominations including school children from within the community to discuss the theme.
Programme Officer of SALYAN, Mohamed Koroma gave an overview of the symposium and called on the youth to endeavor to understand some of the issues in the ongoing Taylor trial and the legacy it is expected to leave behind for Sierra Leone.
Civil Society representative, Patrick Tucker gave a detailed explanation on the status of the Taylor trial and implored the youth to be mindful of the country’s immediate past, with particular reference to the eleven-year rebel war and its concomitant ramifications in their effort at charting a way for the future of the country as a peaceful, stable and developing country.
Alhassan Kamara of the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) and Komrabai Dumbuya of the National Youth Commission both spoke on the role of youth in post conflict development in Sierra Leone, and warned against youth misuse as agents and perpetrators of violence in all its forms.
By Saidu Bah
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