Q&A with Alfred Brownell Association of Environmental Lawyers of Liberia By Kera Abraham Alfred Brownell is the president and founder of the Association of Environmental Lawyers of Liberia, aka "Green Advocates," based in Monrovia. Charles Taylor was elected Liberia's president in 1997 but soon became a tyrannical warlord, smuggling arms and diamonds to fuel conflict within Liberia and in neighboring regions. Taylor presided over a brutal civil war that left 300,000 Liberians dead and the economy in shambles. In 2003, the U.N. indicted Taylor with war crimes and crimes against humanity. In late 2005, Liberians elected Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson president. Working with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW), Green Advocates is now helping to put in place Liberia's first framework environmental laws. A leading Liberian newspaper credited Brownell for ushering in a new era of freedom in Liberia. EW spoke with him in Eugene April 13. Tell me about the mission of your organization, Green Advocates. When Green Advocates was organized by law students in 1997, our vision was to try to ensure that there were appropriate policies to provide for the sustainable management of Liberia's natural resources. Existing laws were conflicting and only served the purpose of resource extraction. There was no concern for sustainable management. We lobbied to put into place a comprehensive framework law for the environment, and for an environmental commission that would have the responsibility of coordinating those policies. That effort was very successful. The Environmental Protection Agency was set up, and the environmental laws that we helped draft were passed in 2003. What does Taylor's indictment mean for Liberia? Taylor, of course, was the mastermind — the godfather behind all of this killing. He used revenue from natural resources to create chaos in the region. The Taylor indictment, trial and prosecution represents a new day — not only for Liberia, but for Africa. It shows that if our leaders abuse the rights of their people, one day they will see the face of justice. And we are seeing the end of the culture of impunity in Africa. Are you hopeful about Liberia's new president, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson? She is the first African female president, and so far, so good. The first thing she did when she assumed the presidency was to cancel Liberia's contracts with all of these timber companies that were polluting the environment and abusing human rights. Now, she has moved to try to put into place new procedures to promote transparency, accountability and the rule of law. That position is significant, because on the African continent, where cronyism is the basis of normal business with government, she is telling corporate powers, "This is a new day." What are the next steps toward democracy? We have to end the culture of impunity in Liberia. That means holding individuals responsible. That's what needs to be done for Firestone, which has been in Liberia for 80 years and has been involved in child slavery and slave-type labor to extract rubber to supply tire factories in America and Europe. In fact, in the early days of Taylor's war, Taylor had his military base on a Firestone rubber plantation. As Liberia enters a new democratic era, what governments can serve as a model? Well, it's kind of difficult. For awhile, we were looking to America to promote democracy and the rule of law, given the historical ties between Liberia and America. But when you read in the newspapers that Americans are afraid of their phones being tapped and being arrested without charge, that is scary for Liberians, because we look to the Americans for guidance on these issues. There is a saying: "When America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold." Should Americans be concerned about the way U.S.-based companies behave abroad? Yes, Americans need more education about what their companies do abroad. The negative image that people in other countries have of the U.S. is not so much because of individual American citizens; they are because of your corporations and the kinds of policies they pursue beyond your borders. For an individual who has not come to the U.S. or had interactions with Americans, all they see is this terrible corporate power, like Firestone, using children as slaves to make profits and dumping all of its industrial waste into poor communities. So how do you think poor innocent villagers view Firestone? They know it is an American company, and that's it! Why doesn't the Liberian government penalize Firestone? How do you enforce the law against Firestone when Firestone's income is more than the income of the whole country? Firestone is a multinational corporation that made $20.5 billion last year. The country of Liberia had about $88 million last year. This is how these powerful companies have unbridled influence over very poor developing countries. They have all the resources, so they abuse and violate the laws with impunity. If we don't document these things, report them and talk about them, these companies are not going to reform. What's your message to Americans? We want to see new policies for how the U.S. will superintend its multinational corporations. There is a need to hold those multinationals accountable, to conduct congressional-level investigations on the behavior of these companies overseas. And there is a need to strengthen the capacity for foreign plaintiffs in countries like Liberia to come to the U.S. and hold those companies accountable. Now, the only instrument that foreign plaintiffs have against U.S. companies and individuals is the Alien Tort Claims Act, and we are seeing an effort to roll back the strength of that act. What can an individual citizen do? Public opinions matter in this country. If the citizens are talking about this, if they are writing their congressmen and the White House and the secretary of state, I am sure there is going to be a change. You also have to ensure that the materials you buy are produced with in ways that did not pollute or support corrupt practices. These are the basic tenets that need to be set. Can you give an example? Let's take the issue of illegal logging. Because of the U.N. sanctions on Liberian timber, retail companies are not directly buying logs from Liberia — they are buying logs from Singapore, Hong Kong and China. But the primary timber company in Liberia is a Chinese company. The Oriental Timber Company is moving logs to China, and China processes the timber and sends it to the U.S. And who buys the processed timber? Home Depot and others. So if you go to Home Depot and you buy furniture, you are buying timber that was exported from Liberia to China and back to the U.S. What can a Home Depot customer do to change this? If you go to Home Depot, ask them: "Where did you buy this timber? Did you buy from China? Are you aware that China is buying its logs from companies operating in Liberia, and that those companies are involved in destroying the environment and abusing human rights?" A lot of work has been done to profile companies, including where they get their timber products. Home Depot should not give business to those companies that are destroying the forests or abusing human rights. What about Firestone? It is the same thing. The rubber in the Firestone tires on your vehicles comes from Liberia, where Firestone is involved with slavery and polluting poor communities. So when you go into a store that sells Firestone tires, you should say: "I am not going to buy this tire until Firestone reforms its policies to protect the rights of workers, to provide dignity of labor and to stop dumping its waste into communities." For more information on Green Advocates, visit www.greenadvocates.org. To learn about the campaign against Firestone, check out www.stopfirestone.org.To read more about the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, visit www.elaw.org
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