An appeals panel of the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has ruled that former Liberian President Charles Taylor is not immune from prosecution for war crimes. Attorneys for Taylor had argued that the court overstepped its bounds by indicting the head of state of another country. Four appellate judges, however, ruled that because the court is an international tribunal, it does have that authority. "We hold that the official position of the applicant as an incumbent head of state at the time when these criminal proceedings were initiated against him is not a bar to his prosecution by this court," said a statement read by the court president, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola.

The phenomenon of under-age and youthful soldiers in violent conflicts receives much international attention, and the participation of young people in Sierra Leone’s ten-year conflict was no exception. Here and elsewhere, agencies working with children in demobilisation and reintegration programmes tend to view these young people mainly as victims of forced conscription by exploitive and unscrupulous warlords. This view might be correct for many of the very young child combatants. The older child and youth combatants, who together make up a large part of the total number of combatants in armed factions, do not entirely fit in this picture.

The Global Campaign for Education (DCE), which is a coalition of teachers unions, child rights activists and development organisations around the world, united in their determination to make the right to education a success, has intensified one of the world's biggest lobby ever on education. In Sierra Leone, a similar lobby is also on track as a national coalition comprising of several organisations, together with primary and secondary schools, met members of parliament to brief them on the operation of the campaign, and highlight the importance of education in the country.