Irma Specht is an anthropologist with expertise in the field of the reintegration of ex-combatants and child soldiers. She is the co-author of Young soldiers: why they choose to fight (2004), and Red Shoes, experiences of girl combatants in Liberia ( 2006). She is currently the Director of Transition International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands.

Ibrahim Bangura has wide-ranging experience in the fields of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants (DDR), gender, child protection monitoring and rehabilitation, and research and monitoring and evaluation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history, University of Sierra Leone; a master’s degree in gender studies, University of Sierra Leone; and a master’s in international development studies, University of Amsterdam.

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John Caulker is the Executive Director of Fambul Tok. Previously, he was the Executive Director of Forum of Conscience, a national human rights NGO, and played a leading role in the Truth and Reconciliation Working Group, a civil society coalition which engaged critically with the Sierra Leonean Truth and Reconciliation Commission during its existence.

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Accord Issue 23: West Africa: Liberia and Sierra Leone

Juliette Syn is an American-trained lawyer with a background in international human rights law. Her work in Liberia has focused on land and natural resource-related issues, disputes and policies; displacement issues; and customary law and practice.

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Accord Issue 23: West Africa: Liberia and Sierra Leone

Lemuel Reeves is the senior legal associate for The Carter Center’s Access to Justice project in Liberia. Prior to joining the Center in 2008, Cllr. Reeves served as a judicial affairs officer with the UN Mission In Liberia (UNMIL). Cllr. Reeves has more than 20 years of experience as a law enforcement officer with the Liberian National Police. He rose through the ranks from a police recruit, eventually becoming chief of legal affairs of the police. He is a member of the Supreme Court Bar of Liberia, and a member of the Liberian National Bar Association.

Pewee S. Flomoku has worked as senior project coordinator for the Carter Center’s Access to Justice project in Liberia since 2005. Previously, he worked for the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) as part of its Demobilisation, Disarmament, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) program, and with a variety of Liberian civil society organisations. He worked for the Associated Press and was awarded Liberian Photojournalist of the Year 2005 from the Press Union of Liberia.

Jackson Speare is Head of Office at International Alert Liberia. He coordinates Alert’s West Africa Gender Projects, including field outreach activities with justice and security institutions to address the human security of women and girls in the Mano River Basin. Before joining Alert, he was a human rights activist with the Foundation for International Dignity, working to ensure the provision of pro bono services to indigents in the Mano River sub-region.

Richard Reeve is Security Manager with International Alert’s Peacebuilding Issues Programme. He has researched, written and taught extensively on security and justice issues and peace support interventions in West Africa. Prior to joining Alert in 2009, he worked with the War Studies Department at King’s College London, Chatham House Africa Programme, Jane’s Information Group and a local conflict-resolution NGO in Georgia. He has also worked with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union.

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Philippe Le Billon is Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia with the Department of Geography and Liu Institute for Global Issues. He works on war economies and resource governance. Most recent books include Wars of Plunder (Hurst/Columbia UP, 2012) and Oil (Polity Press, 2012).

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Accord Issue 23: West Africa: Liberia and Sierra Leone