Law Enforcement and Human Rights in Post-Conflict African Societies

Law enforcement is the greatest tool used by the state, inadvertently or otherwise, to violate human rights. Paradoxically, though, law enforcement is used to protect these rights between individuals, and between the state and individuals. The typical law enforcement agencies are the police. In Sierra Leone this includes the prosecutions department or the law officers’ department who work directly with the Director of Public Prosecutions in the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. The judiciary comprises the courts and the Attorney-General who is the political head. The Chief Justice is the administrative and professional head. The prisons department which is an autonomous body, like the police, is under the supervision of the ministry of internal affairs.