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| Liberia TRC Project in Philadelphia |
Mirroring the TRC’s work in Liberia, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights has a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the TRC to conduct statement taking from Liberians living throughout the United States. The Philadelphia partnership, including the University of Pennsylvania Law School's Transnational Legal Clinic, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis L.L.P., Blank Rome L.L.P., Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young L.L.P., Reed Smith L.L.P., Pepper Hamilton L.L.P., Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll L.L.P., Nationalities Service Center, HIAS, Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, TRC National Advisory Committee member M.B. Sherif, Mr. Sam Slewion, and the Liberian Consul General in Philadelphia the Honorable Dr. Teta Banks, is working in collaboration with Minnesota Advocates to carry out this task. Volunteers in the Philadelphia community will assist those Liberians in Philadelphia who voluntarily come forward to tell their stories to the TRC. Individuals who give statements will have access to counselors, immigration lawyers, and social service referrals. Information from interviews will be included in the TRC’s historical record.
Volunteers in Philadelphia will begin taking statements in the early summer, and will finish taking statements in December 2007. The Project was piloted in Minnesota and will be extended to other parts of the U.S. depending on the financial, material and human resource capacity available.
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