# Foundational texts — SCSL/RSCSL

## 1. UN Security Council Resolution 1315 (2000)

**Adopted:** 14 August 2000.

**Function:** requested the Secretary-General to negotiate an agreement with the Government of Sierra Leone to create an independent special court. The Resolution is the **UN authorisation** for the SCSL but does not establish it — establishment came by treaty (the 2002 Agreement).

## 2. UN-Sierra Leone Agreement (16 January 2002)

**Full title:** Agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone on the Establishment of a Special Court for Sierra Leone.

**Signed:** Freetown, 16 January 2002.

**Function:** **bilateral treaty** between the UN and Sierra Leone establishing the SCSL; annexes the Statute. **Distinct legal basis from the ICTY and ICTR** (which are Chapter VII subsidiary organs of the UN Security Council). The SCSL was the **first treaty-based modern international criminal tribunal**.

## 3. Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

**Annexed to** the 2002 Agreement.

**Key articles:**

- **Article 1 — Competence.** Persons "who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996" — the "greatest responsibility" formulation has been extensively litigated.
- **Article 2 — Crimes against humanity.** Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, **rape**, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and any other form of sexual violence, persecution, **other inhumane acts**.
- **Article 3 — Violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II.** Violence to life, collective punishments, taking of hostages, terrorism, outrages upon personal dignity (especially humiliating treatment, rape and any form of indecent assault), pillage, summary executions.
- **Article 4 — Other serious violations of international humanitarian law.**
  - 4(a) Attacks against civilian populations or civilian objects
  - 4(b) Attacks against personnel involved in humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping
  - **4(c) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities** — *landmark provision*
- **Article 5 — Crimes under Sierra Leonean law.**
  - Offences relating to abuse of girls under the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act 1926
  - Offences relating to wanton destruction of property under the Malicious Damage Act 1861
- **Article 6 — Individual criminal responsibility.**
  - 6(1) — Commission, planning, ordering, instigating, aiding and abetting; JCE
  - **6(2) — No immunity for heads of State** — "The official position of any accused persons, whether as Head of State or Government or as a responsible government official, shall not relieve such person of criminal responsibility nor mitigate punishment."
  - 6(3) — Superior responsibility
- **Article 7 — Jurisdiction over persons of 15 years of age and above at the time of the alleged commission.** *The SCSL does not prosecute child perpetrators* — an important conceptual choice.
- **Article 8 — Concurrent jurisdiction.** SCSL has primacy over Sierra Leonean courts.
- **Article 9 — Non bis in idem.**
- **Article 12 — Composition of the Chambers.** Trial Chamber (international and Sierra Leonean judges) and Appeals Chamber.
- **Article 14 — Rules of Procedure and Evidence.** The judges of the Special Court adopt the RPE.
- **Article 17 — Rights of the accused.**
- **Article 19 — Penalties.** Imprisonment for a specified number of years; **no death penalty and no life imprisonment** — fixed-term sentences only (the longest imposed was Charles Taylor's 50 years).

## 4. Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the SCSL

**Adopted** by the judges; amended numerous times. The revision in force at the date of a cited decision controls.

## 5. UN-Sierra Leone Agreement on the Residual Special Court (2010)

**Signed:** 29 July 2010 (New York), 11 August 2010 (Freetown). **Commencement:** the RSCSL began functioning on the dissolution of the SCSL on **2 December 2013** (the Agreement's formal entry into force is sometimes dated to early 2014 — verify the precise date against rscsl.org if it is material).

**Function:** establishes the **Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL)** to continue the SCSL's legacy — supervision of sentences, witness protection, archives, contempt prosecutions, claims for compensation.

## 6. Statute of the RSCSL

Annexed to the 2010 Agreement. Provides for the residual functions.

## Working with foundational texts in project knowledge

Recommended:
1. Add the **SCSL Statute** to project knowledge for any substantial SCSL work.
2. Add the **RSCSL Statute** if the work touches post-2013 functions.
3. Add the **RPE** (revision in force) if procedural detail matters.

Retrieve from rscsl.org/Documents if not in project knowledge.