PHOTO: Participants at the awareness forum
By Tokpa, tarnue-tarnue82@gmail.com
Ahead of the establishment of a specialized court for SGBV cases in Lofa County, the Progressive Youth for Community Safety Initiative (PYCOSI) has begun the implementation of a two-month massive awareness project in Lofa County, with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The project titled, Public Awareness on the establishment of a Specialized SGBV court for Lofa, is being implemented in four of the nine political districts in Lofa County.
PYCOSI Director, Mohamade Kamara told this Reporter that the districts include Voinjama, Quardu Gboni, Kolahun and Wanhasa, respectively.
PYCOS Executive Director Mohamade Kamara
He said the two months project which is under the European Union Spotlight Initiative for Liberia seeks to create massive awareness and ensure that citizens of the county are knowledgeable of the various components and functions of the court in the county, ahead of its establishment and how they as citizens can take advantage of such court.
According to Mr. Kamara, his organization will also over the two months period conduct sectorial meetings, with prison authorities in the county, judicial and legal actors and other stakeholders on the importance of criminal court ‘E’ in the county which will look at SGBV issues in the county.
He said the establishment of criminal court ‘E’ in Lofa is very important in that it will help to fast-track SGBV/GBV cases from across the county and will also reduce the tension currently on the tenth judicial circuit court
Meanwhile, the head of the European Union Spotlight Initiative, secretarial Boakai Yameh said the establishment of a criminal court ‘E’ in Lofa is a dream comes true for civil societies working to fight against SGBV in Lofa and Liberia at large.
Spotlight Initiative Lofa Secretarial Head Boakai Yameh
Boakai said traditional practices in the county over the years have attributed to the increasing wave of SGBV issues or cases in the county.
According to him, the EU Spotlight Initiative secretarial for Lofa County has recorded 41 rape cases from January 2021 to present which indicates an increase in rape and other SGBV cases in the county.
He said establishing a specialized court for SGBV issues in Lofa will provide a space for what he called speedy adjudication of rape and all other violence cases perpetrated against women and girls across the county.
He further indicated that this will also allow the tenth judicial circuit court adjudicate other cases speedily something that will build more trust from the public towards the justice system of the county and the country at large.
The daylong Information Shearing section brought together over 30 participants from various sectors of the county.