A Special Court needs assessment

What do the Peace Corps, Iraqi refugees, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone have in common? They all make an appearance in a recently passed piece of US legislation on foreign assistance.

Here’s the text of the Special Court provision, with one comment in red:

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment on the continuing needs of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including an assessment of the following activities of the Special Court:

• Witness protection.
• Archival activities, including recordkeeping associated with future legal work by the Special Court. What future legal work? I thought Taylor’s case was the last one. Anyone know what this means? Could this be referencing appeals (see next bullet) or future cases (see last bullet)?
• The residual registrar’s capacity for enforcing Special Court sentences and maintaining relations with countries hosting imprisoned convicts of the Special Court, legal decisionmaking regarding future appeals, conditions of prisoner treatment, contempt proceedings, and financial matters relating to such activities.
• Transfer or maintenance of Special Court records to a permanent recordkeeping authority in Sierra Leone.
• Ongoing needs or programs for community outreach, for the purpose of reconciliation and healing, regarding the Special Court’s legal proceedings and decisions.
• Plans for the Special Court’s facilities in Sierra Leone and plans to use the Special Court, and expertise of its personnel, for further development of the legal profession and an independent and effective judiciary in Sierra Leone.
• Unresolved cases, or cases that were not prosecuted.

The most recent news reports I’ve seen indicate that the Special Court still needs funding or shortly it will not be able to continue with Taylor’s prosecution. This demand for a needs assessment appears to be leading the way for the US to fill the budget gap. Though I’m not sure the Special Court can last 6 more months, unless they have raised money from other countries.

Update: Thanks to Valerie for this clarification:

The clause you have highlighted in red likely refers to future legal work required to address what are often referred to as “residual issues”. After the physical closure of the Special Court, legal issues still must be addressed, such as witness protection, the status and condition of convicted persons serving sentences, access to and protection of archives and so on. These residual issues require ongoing legal monitoring for years after the court closes its doors.