JPC Director to Discuss TRC Report at UPenn Law School in America

News

By Sam Togba Slewion, Philadelphia

On Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 5 pm, the University of Pennsylvania Law School will host a forum for discussion of the recently released report and recommendations of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The Forum will lead off with a presentation by Cllr. J. Augustine Toe, the Executive Director of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Catholic Diocese in Liberia, who will share his perspective from civil society on the Final Report of the Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The forum is being sponsored by the International Human Rights Advocates student-group at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It will be held in the Levy Conference Center at Penn Law, 3443 SansomStreet, and will begin at 5 pm with a presentation by Cllr Toe, followed by an open discussion, and will conclude at 6:30 pm. The event is Free and the general public is invited.

His presentation and the subsequent discussion will be co- moderated by Sarah Paoletti, Clinical Supervisor , Lecturer, and Director of the Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Sam Togba Slewion, former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and Coordinator of the Technical Committee of the Liberia Media Support Initiative (LIMESI).

The Liberia TRC was established by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly of Liberia through an Act enacted on May 12, 2005 as part of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed by various warring factions of the Liberia civil crisis to restore peace to Liberia after a 14-year civil war. The Commission recently submitted its Final Report which was received with mixed reactions in Liberia among civic groups, politicians and policy makers.

Cllr. J Augustine Toe is a lawyer and a leading human rights and civil society activist in Liberia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Administration and Political Science from the University of Liberia, and a Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB) from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law of the University of Liberia.

He is a member of the Bar of the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia. Counselor Toe is presently the National Director of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, one of Liberia’s leading human rights organizations.

Cllr Toe is a practicing attorney, credited for rendering pro bono legal services to indigent persons, including civil society activists and journalists, and has led civil society groups in several successful lawsuits against the Government of Liberia.

He has been instrumental in strengthening civil society advocacy while serving as chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Human Rights Center of Liberia; a consortium of nine human rights and pro-democracy organizations.

From 2007-2008, the Transnational Legal Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania Law School partnered with The Advocates for Human Rights and members of the Philadelphia legal community, to conduct outreach to and engage in statement taking from the Liberian Diaspora living in the greater-Philadelphia area on behalf of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In September 2007, a team of students led by Prof. Paoletti traveled to the Buduburum Refugee Camp in Ghana, West Africa, with The Advocates for Human Rights to conduct training and statement taking there with members of the Liberian TRC statement taking team living in and near the camp. During the course of their participation, the Clinic took over 200 statements from Liberian refugees for submission to the TRC.

Editor @ October 22, 2009