{"id":7694,"date":"2009-10-29T17:27:46","date_gmt":"2009-10-29T22:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=7694"},"modified":"2009-10-29T21:08:46","modified_gmt":"2009-10-30T02:08:46","slug":"truth-and-reconciliation-stories-from-the-diaspora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/10\/truth-and-reconciliation-stories-from-the-diaspora\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth and Reconciliation, Stories from the Diaspora"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TRC_Report_cover\"<\/a>Several months ago I blogged about the situation of Liberians who fled their country for the United States (but who did not receive official status as refugees) and who have\u00a0lived here for years in a “temporary” status<\/a>, while it remained unsafe to return to Liberia. As I explained in those posts, these US residents face yearly the prospect of deportation to Liberia, unless Congress acts to pass legislation allowing them to stay permanently. \u00a0Last year the crisis was once again temporarily resolved by President Obama’s\u00a0one-year extension of protection<\/a>. It’s unclear whether any permanent status for this group is on the horizon, as legislation on the issue seems to be, at this time, stalled in committee in both the\u00a0Senate <\/a>and theHouse<\/a>, so I may be posting about this again next spring.<\/p>\n

Anyway, if you followed those posts with any interest, or if you are generally interested in the experience of refugees, then you may want to review the recently-released report from\u00a0The Advocates for Human Rights<\/a>, entitled\u00a0A House with Two Rooms: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia Diaspora Project<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0(Confession: as previously disclosed, I worked for the Advocates during and after law school, and I think it’s a terrific organization.)<\/p>\n

A House with Two Rooms reports the findings of the Diaspora Project portion of the TRC’s <\/a>work, which collected information about the experiences of the Liberian diaspora during the Liberian wars, during their flight from Liberia, and in the countries in which they resettled. \u00a0Amazon <\/a>summarizes it this way:<\/p>\n

From 1979 to 2003, more than 1.5 million Liberians were forced from their homes to escape civil conflict. Hundreds of thousands became refugees and many eventually made their way to countries of resettlement including the United States. Most of their stories have never been told. This report on the experience of the Liberian diaspora, entitled A House with Two Rooms, documents the experience of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law that forced Liberians to leave the country. It is based on an analysis of more than 1600 statements, fact-finding interviews, and witness testimony at public hearings held in the U.S. The report also tells the story of the “triple trauma” experienced by members of the diaspora during their flight through Liberia and across international borders, while living in refugee camps in West Africa, and in resettlement in the U.S. and U.K.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I reviewed the\u00a0Executive Summary<\/a> and some of the interior chapters. \u00a0I am a little ashamed that I can’t stand to read much more of it right now, because it reminds me too much of what I heard from Liberian refugees during the period in the late 1990’s when I worked with refugees. The atrocities of the wars in Liberia were beyond what I ever imagined human beings could do to each other, until I heard it for myself. If you care to read a representative story, here is one from the Executive Summary, at pages 10-11. \u00a0(Or, just take my word for it that it’s terrible, and skip over the block quote.)<\/p>\n

At the initial stages of the war, I moved to Ninth Street in Sinkor, Monrovia\u2026\u00a0The children were outside cleaning the yard. Suddenly they ran inside and\u00a0said that they saw armed men coming. Moments later, Taylor\u2019s men busted\u00a0in. One of them said, \u201cThis is the dog I\u2019m looking for.\u201d He told us to come\u00a0outside. Myself, my ten children, and my wife obeyed.\u00a0The NPFL [commander] knew me\u2026He had run against me in an election\u2026before the war. He said to me, \u201cYou cheated me during the election, but now\u00a0I am in power. I will teach you a lesson you will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told his NPFL boys to take my eldest daughter into the house. She was\u00a0thirteen years old. They dragged her inside and dragged me in after her. [The\u00a0commander] raped my daughter in front of me. My father (my daughter\u2019s\u00a0grandfather) was still in the house. He rushed at the NPFL men, trying to\u00a0stop the rape. One of the men \u2013 I don\u2019t know his name \u2013 shot and killed my\u00a0[father] right there.\u00a0[The commander] then brought me and my daughter back outside. He said,\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to show you what I came here for.\u201d He beat the children with the\u00a0butt of his gun. He made two of my sons, who were seventeen and twenty,\u00a0drink dirty water with the urine of one of the NPFL men in it. When the\u00a0twenty year old refused, he shot him in the foot. [The commander] stabbed\u00a0my other son, who was eighteen, in the elbow with his bayonet.<\/p>\n

He then began to beat my wife. He told her to lay on her back and stare at the\u00a0sun. [The commander] said, \u201cYou will eat your husband\u2019s heart very soon.\u201d\u00a0He took the daughter who had been raped. [The commander] held her and\u00a0said, \u201cI want you to know how you all will die.\u201d He ordered one of his men\u00a0to cut off my daughter\u2019s head. She was beheaded in front of our eyes.\u00a0They dragged me over to lay beside her body. [The commander] said, \u201cYou\u00a0will be the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I heard heavy shooting. ECOMOG was coming. The NPFL scattered.\u00a0Before [the commander] left, he made a remark. He said, \u201cAnywhere in\u00a0Liberia I meet you or your family, I will kill you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I do not know how human beings like the man who lived through that experience go on with their lives, but thousands of them do, thousands of them right here in the United States. \u00a0When I was practicing refugee law and hearing these stories, I was focused on how to help each individual, and didn’t take much time to think of the larger picture of how the refugee and asylum law systems function (or do not).<\/p>\n

Since I began teaching refugee law here at Marquette, I became more aware of\u00a0the strange gulf (strange to me, anyway) between the fields of\u00a0transitional justice<\/a>,\u00a0which, as I understand it, seeks to help societies that are in the process of recovering from or transforming after widespread human rights abuses, and refugee law, which seeks to provide refuge from those fleeing the abuses as they occur.<\/p>\n

It is striking that, as far as I know, this Diaspora Project is the first time that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has sought, methodically and purposefully, on such a large scale, to obtain information from the ones who fled the horrific violence and resettled elsewhere.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that such interviewing of refugees should be a standard part of providing for their needs and giving them refuge. \u00a0And that it should be done at the time they are fleeing, not (or at least, not solely) years afterwards. \u00a0Not only because having their stories heard and believed is part of what they need, for healing, but because the evidence they could provide would be ammunition for investigating and, perhaps, stopping the human rights abuses as they occur, or even preventing them.<\/p>\n

If you want to know more about the stories of the incredibly resilient, inspirational Liberian diaspora, a House with Two Rooms is available for\u00a0purchase on Amazon<\/a> or from the Advocates by mail. \u00a0It is also available for\u00a0free download (in sections)<\/a> on the Advocates’ website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several months ago I blogged about the situation of Liberians who fled their country for the United States (but who did not receive official status as refugees) and who have\u00a0lived here for years in a “temporary” status, while it remained unsafe to return to Liberia. As I explained in those posts, these US residents face […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,56,20,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-immigration-law","category-international-law","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}