Charles Taylor of Liberia has, after a five year trial, been convicted by a specially constituted court of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone to commit atrocities. It is accepted that he had no command responsibility for these atrocities.
This verdict has been welcomed by the British Government, although I should have thought we were on slightly shaky ground having aided and abetted rebels in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, none of whom, I expect, committed any atrocities. It is the first time a head of state has been convicted, and it must be giving Her Majesty the Queen some food for thought about any future military adventures.
Amongst other things Taylor was accused of using child soldiers as young as 15.
My father joined the British Army in peacetime in 1930 aged 14, and I am awaiting the compensation for this appalling breach of his, and my family's human rights.
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