SCSL (Special Court for Sierra Leone)

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was created by an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone signed on 16 January 2002, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1315 (2000). It was a hybrid tribunal, applying a mix of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law, and staffed by both international and Sierra Leonean judges and prosecutors. Its seat was in Freetown, with a sub-office in The Hague used for the Charles Taylor trial.

The Court's mandate was to prosecute "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 date of the Abidjan Peace Accord. Crimes within its jurisdiction included crimes against humanity, violations of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II, and other serious violations such as the recruitment of child soldiers and attacks on UN peacekeepers.

The SCSL indicted leaders from all three main warring factions: the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the Civil Defence Forces (CDF). Its most prominent case was against former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who in April 2012 was convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment — the first conviction of a former head of state by an international tribunal since Nuremberg.

The SCSL is notable for several legal firsts: it was the first international court to convict defendants for the recruitment and use of child soldiers, for forced marriage as a crime against humanity, and for attacks against peacekeepers. After completing its work, it was succeeded in 2013 by the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL), which handles ongoing obligations such as witness protection, sentence enforcement, and archive management.