PHOTO: Att. Josephine Grose
By Joseph Solo, Jr., jsolojr86@gmail.com
SANNIQUELLIE, Liberia -A prosecutor and the Program Officer of the Sexual Gender-Based Violence Crimes Unit at the Ministry of Justice, has alarmed that 2021 received have singled out Sexual Violence as the most reported crime in Liberia.
Att. Josephine Grose made the disclosure in an interview with Reporters
at the close of a three-day Criminal Justice Chain Actors Training on Sexual Gender-Based Violence here in the Nimba County capital recently, It was sponsored by the European Union Spotlight Initiative.
Participants at the training pose for photo
Over 2,000 sexual violence cases were reported last year alone, prompting the need for enhanced awareness and training in a bid to curb this form of violence in Liberia, the Liberian lawyer said.
“If you looked at the statistics involving sexual gender-based violence in Liberia, you would realize that it is high. For us at the Sexual Gender-Based Violence Crimes Unit at the Ministry of Justice, looking at cases that were reported last year through the police, our hotline calls, and from the Ministry of Gender, we have over 2000 cases reported,” Atty. Grose told Journalist.
The SGBV Program Officer at the Ministry of Justice however, divulged that that the ministry she works for has had problems with statistics, as according to her the Ministry does not have an identified Information Management System unique to her ministry.
“So the statistics will vary. But the statistics we received state that SGBV is on the rampage,” the Justice Ministry prosecutor said, adding that she she has tried to coordinate information received by her department from various agencies working with SGBV cases in Liberia.
Commenting on participants’ general knowledge of SGBV issues in their respective communities, the training coordinator, Att. Grose explained that justice actors, health workers, educators, Gender and Children Social Protection Workers, local county leaders and traditional leaders drawn from various districts of Nimba County presented themselves to be abreast of the issues and they were recommending minimize violence against women and girls in the county.
“As it stands, the participants are already knowledgeable about some of the human rights issues discussed,” the Liberian female lawyer stated.
But she said: “There are new ideas coming up every day that the participants need to know about so they would improve their ways of dealing with these issues when the arise. For example, trending contemporary rights issues including lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) need to to be explained to the participants so they do not discriminate against them.”
Atty. Grose however, clarified that though there are no laws in Liberia that guarantee people’s practice of such sexual life, there are international laws that protect LGBTs.
State and security actors, she said need to ensure that their fundamental human rights are not violated since they are humans.
the legal luminary at the same time called on traditional leaders to desist from forcefully initiating people in traditional practices including the Poro and Sande societies.
“Let me make this clear, we are not against our culture, but there are other harmful practices that we are trying to curtail. We are not saying that Female Genital Mutilation is wrong, but when it goes against someone’s right to consent, then there is a problem. If an adult woman wants to go to the Sande Bush willingly, it is ok. But nobody should force her to go there. On the other hand, fundamentally everyone has rights. Therefore, other people who choose to be LGBTs be protected because internationally they are protected… so, we must respect their fundamental human rights,” Atty. Grose concluded.
Absence of “one stop” GBV centers
Meanwhile, the Sexual Gender-Based Violence Officer for the Family Health Program at the Ministry of Health, Mara K. Wamah-Worlubah has spoken of the unavailability of what she termed, “One Stop Center” in some counties in Liberia, including Nimba.
The SGBV officer, who also served as one of the facilitators at the recent Sanniquellie training, described the “One Stop Center” as a place where survivors of sexual and gender based violence are given the required services and medications, maintaining that those services are free of charge.
“I have been telling the participants that when SGBV is reported, nobody should treat it as an ordinary domestic case,” Madam Worluba said.
She however cautioned: “They should take the survivor to the requisite authorities where medical examinations, counseling and treatment will be accessed while the family pursues the case. We do not have a ‘One Stop Center’ in Nimba County, but we are hoping that our partners, the EU Spotlight Initiative and the UN system will help our government to set up this center in the remaining counties to fast track the investigation and prosecution of sex crimes in our country”.
For their part, two of the participants, the Nimba County Coordinator of the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, Madam Yaa Belleh Suah and the Acting Prison Superintendent at the Sanniquellie Central Prison, Charles Mahn lauded the EU Spotlight Initiative for the training.
Speaking to Journalists, Madam Yaa Belleh Suah recommended that in addition to the training, there is a need for government and her partners to see tackling mental health issues as a top priority.
“Come to think of it… Grown men who rape under age children, do you think they are mentally well?? Even, under age male children who tape their female ‘age mates’ need mental rehabilitation so they do not grow up seeing nothing wrong with raping. So I am recommending to national government to pay keen attention to mental in Nimba County,” Madam Belleh Suah intimated.
“For us at Central Prison”, Charles Mahn began, “our challenge has been overcrowdedness caused by pretrial detainees who are brought on charges of sexual violence”.
To address that the Acting Prison Superintendent recommended speedy trial and the inclusion of ‘reintegration package’ for inmates who have been placed on parole in order to be useful citizens once they are released.
“Like that, they won’t return to crimes and drugs,” Madam Belleh emphasized.
The recent training was organized by SGBV-Crimes Unit at the Ministry of Justice along with support from the UNDP under the Spotlight Initiative Programme to eliminate violence against women and girls. It brought together fifty-one (51) Criminal Justice Chain Actors (24 males) and (27 females) from several Line Ministries, Governmental Institutions, Civil Society Organizations, and Traditional Council Leaders from different districts of Nimba County
The objectives were to build the capacity of criminal justice chain actors in responding to SGBV cases and harmful practices, empower justice actors to ensure that gender issues are mainstreamed and create a platform for networking and sharing information among stakeholders.