PHOTO: Liberian Foreign Min. Dee Maxwell Kemayah
By Our Staff Writer
The United States government has given a bleak picture of the human rights situation in Liberia, citing a number issues that marred the state of affairs in this country in the past year, with not much difference from the Americans’ conclusion in 2019.
In its 2020 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Liberia just released, the US State Department speaks of a high degree of impunity, amid repeated human rights abuses both in the past and present.
“Significant human rights issues included: arbitrary killings by police; cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by police; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention by government officials; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious restrictions on freedom of the press, including violence and threats of violence against journalists; official corruption; lack of investigation and accountability for violence against women; the existence or use of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults; and the worst forms of child labor,” says the US human rights report on Liberia. https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/liberia/
Its 2019 human rights report on Liberia is almost a carbon copy of the latest 2020 assessment of the human rights situation in Liberia by the American government, as can be seen below.
“Significant human rights issues included: arbitrary killings by police; arbitrary detention by government officials; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; substantial restrictions on free expression and the press, including site blocking; official corruption; lack of accountability in cases of violence against women due to government inaction in some instances, including rape, domestic violence, and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); trafficking in persons; the existence or use of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults; and use of forced or compulsory child labor,” says the US State Department 2019 report.. https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/liberia/
Again in the 2020 report, the US government underscores the need to bring perpetrators of rights abuses during the country’s 14 years brutal civil war to justice, as the current Liberian authorities equally bring current abusers to book for their acts.
“Impunity for individuals who committed human rights abuses, including atrocities, during the Liberian civil wars that ended in 2003, remained a serious problem, although the government cooperated with war crimes investigations in third countries.”
Although the report acknowledged intermittent efforts by the Liberian government to address impunity present impunity, it says they are limited.
“The government made intermittent but limited attempts to investigate and prosecute officials accused of current abuses, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government,” says the US State Department Report.
Since he came to power in January 2018, the international football icon-turned politician, President Manneh Weah has demonstrated his reluctance about widespread calls to set up a war and economic crimes court in Liberia.
The report speaks about the December 8, 2020 elections which it says observers deemed largely peaceful,
But it flags “some reported instances of vote tampering, intimidation, harassment of female candidates, and election violence.”
In those elections, opposition candidate won 11 of the 15 Senate seats which were contested across Liberia, according to election results announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC), the US State Department report added.