Monrovia, Feb. 18 -- As Liberia intensifies debate over establishing a long-awaited war crimes court, justice experts are urging lawmakers to explicitly criminalize forced marriage in the court's founding statute, warning that failure to do so risks sidelining one of the civil wars' most pervasive abuses.

One of these experts, Elise Keppler, executive director of the U.S.-based Global Justice Center and who covered Liberia for more than two decades with Human Rights Watch, said it was "incredibly important" that forced marriage is named among prosecutable offenses as the Legislature considers six competing bills to create the court. The bills have been drafted for a war and economic crimes court, reflecting a reenergized campaign for acc...