When Liberia was colonised by freed slaves in the late 1800s they took a leaf out of the Europeans’ book and settled on the coast, not wanting to venture too far in land for fear of what savage tribes might lie in wait. When an independent state was officially declared in 1847 they went one step further and adopted a two-tiered approach to rule of law in the country. The coastal settlements were governed by a formal constitution (written by Harvard academics) with an imaginary line drawn at some distance from the coast to demarcate the ‘Hinterland’. This was the realm of uncivilised natives - a sort of "here be dragons"-approach to nation-building - and separate Hinterland Regulations were drawn up in an effort to instil some form of order there.
The unbelievable thing about the Hinterland Regulations is that, although they have been revised a few times since 1847, they still exist. In a somewhat un-ambitious PR move they’ve been re-branded as the ‘Interior Regulations’ but are still used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a council of traditional leaders as guidelines for the rule of law in these regions.
One of the most interesting (and frightening) aspects of rule of law in the interior is the practice of ‘Sassywood’, a form of trial by ordeal. Although it has now been outlawed it’s still thought to be widely practised in some areas of the country. To a certain extent this is understandable given the limited reach of more formal justice systems. However, a concerted effort is now being made to raise awareness in rural areas that new laws have been passed and crimes should be reported to the police rather than the local Ministry-certified shaman.
So how does Sassywood work? Let’s say one of my goats dies. The cause of death could probably be scientifically investigated but that would take a long time and require skills that might not be readily available. The sudden death of the poor creature could of course also be the work of a curse. And, once the potential source of the curse has been identified, Sassywood is a very effective tool for determining whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. If the accused protests their innocence a potion is concocted from the bark of a type of poisonous tree and administered orally. After this a number of things may happen:
- Defendant dies – this means the person was guilty and hence justice has been delivered.
- Defendant vomits out the mixture and survives – this means they are innocent, a similarly just outcome.
- Defendant passes out – depending on the shape they make when they hit the ground the qualified Sassywood practitioner will be able to determine the degree to which they are guilty and how the matter should be settled.
The above is a somewhat vulgar interpretation of how things may play out but the general idea should be clear. Other trial by ordeal-variants include rubbing said potion into the eyes of the defendant to see if they remain clear (innocent), go red (partially guilty) or even blind (definitely guilty) as well as pressing a red-hot metal implement against the flesh to see if they burn. Admittedly people have a tendency to admit their guilt before suffering any of the above ordeals, in which case the affair can be resolved through the payment of a fine – not unlike a more conventional plea-bargain you could say.
While there are obvious pitfalls in such a system of justice it is certainly efficient. However, Sassywood is just one of a number of ‘harmful traditional practices’ that the Liberian government and NGOs are currently trying to address. The problem is that failing to show respect for these deeply-ingrained forms of culture can seriously derail development interventions. My colleague who works with Women’s Rights issues recounted to me how she was once ‘chased’ out of a village by members of a local secret society who saw her as a threat to their culture (a culture that includes FGM – female genital mutilation – which many organisations are trying to advocate against).
Women have also traditionally been considered as property and hence can be ‘inherited’ by their deceased husbands’ brothers or fathers. Another issue is early marriage. The law says that the age of consent is 18 but it is not uncommon, especially in rural areas, for girls to be married off at 14 or even younger, often to much older men. As a result of this and other factors there is a high level of teenage pregnancy and a low level of school attendance among girls which effectively denies them their right to education.
We are currently working on a proposal for a project that addresses some of these forms of violence against women and seeks to strengthen the implementation of national laws (such as those on rape, inheritance and domestic violence) in the rural south-east of the country. I have just returned from a field assessment there accompanied by my aforementioned colleague and a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry representative was there to beef up our traditional credentials and in one village we got to utter that classic African cliché; “take me to your leader”. I literally had to pinch myself.
It seems fairly evident that simply telling people to abandon their cultural practices will not work. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. We will need to adopt a softer and more sophisticated approach to avoid being seen as a threat by traditional leaders and this can be hard to align with the agenda ActionAid wants to push. There are no prizes for guessing what I’ll be working on over the next couple of weeks…
