Aaron Weah

National Program Assistant
International Center for Transitional Justice
Focus Area(s)
Accountable Policing
Critical Tasks
Integration and amalgamation
Interviewers
Arthur Boutellis
Country of Reform
Liberia
Town/City
Monrovia
Country
Liberia
Date of Interview
Monday, May 12, 2008
Abstract
Aaron Weah, the national program assistant at the International Center for Transitional Justice, talks about police reforms in Liberia. He discusses the deactivation of the former national police and the process of recruitment, vetting and training. He explains that the new police force had a human rights component, and it accounted for equal geographical representation, that is, ethnic representation, to limit politicization.  Weah also identifies the challenges faced when carrying out the reforms, which included the presence of armed ex-combatants, inadequate logistics, police underpayment, lack of public confidence in the police and the issue of fewer women in the force. Based on a study he conducted, Weah advocates learning the best police practices from other countries, for instance, the development of police-military relations, collaboration between the security sector and the civil society, and the amalgamation of security institutions. 
 

Full Interview

50MB
Aaron Weah Interview
Profile

At the time of this interview, Aaron Weah was national program assistant at the International Center for Transitional Justice in Liberia. Before that, he worked for the Center for Democratic Empowerment. Initially, he was a research assistant and later, he became the program associate. He served as the focal person on the Security Sector Working Group, which was a coalition of leading civil-society organizations in Liberia that were committed to research and advocacy with the aim of guiding public policy processes on the reform of security agencies.  As part of the working group, he visited Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa to try to identify best practices in police reform. 

Keywords
vetting
recruitment
media relations
information sources
training curriculum
external accountability
integration and amalgamation
ethnic representation
non-state security groups
private security
vigilantism
Donor Relations
Not specified