“Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls in Liberia is at a crisis point and the Liberian justice system is not doing enough to halt the predatory behavior of men against teenagers,” a local teenage advocacy group, the Girls Alliance for Future Leadership says.
The group said it “has lost confidence in the Liberian Judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of Liberia,” as it commemorates the mysterious death several years ago of a 13-year-old girl, Angel Togba.
After a case that lasted from March 2010, the Supreme Court in August 2014 reversed a lower ruling which brought down a couple guilty in connection with the death of the teenager, something the child rights group is yet to be pleased with.
The Supreme Court, which is the highest arbiter of Justice in Liberia, handed down the ruling that set the defendants free after two previous autopsies on little Angel Togba.
But some three years after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the child rights group says it is demanding two answers from the Supreme Court:
“1.Why it delayed the hearing until the height of the Ebola Crisis when the entire country was under partial Curfew and public gathering was barred by the government. 2. Why did the former Justice Minister now Justice Philip Banks recused himself and not Justice Kabineh JA’neh who served at the National Port Authority alongside Hans Williams both men as rebel representatives in the transitional government?”
In a statement issued on Wednesday to mark Angel Togba’s Day, the Girls Alliance called on the international donors to the Liberian Judiciary to ensure that their tax payers’ dollars to the Liberian Justice system is tied to a comprehensive audit of how the system is handling cases of sexual abuse of women and girls.
The group emphasized that most Liberia girls are now refusing to report sexual violence against them because they believe the justice system cannot protect them if they come forward.
The Celebration of Angel Togba’s Day, was unanimously adopted last year by the teenage group to remember the late Angel Togba who met her untimely death on November 30, 2007.
The 2017 Angel Togba Day celebration under the theme “Justice for Girls” takes place at the 7th Day Adventist High School in Paynesville. Attorney Phil Tarpeh Dixon, Former president, National Students Intellectual Council of Liberia will serve as the keynote speaker, the Girls Alliance release says.
The Secretary General of Girls Alliance for Future Leadership, Faith Saar is calling on the media to attend this year’s celebration as the Alliance will launch 2017 16-days of Gender Activism to highlight the negative impact of female Genital Mutilation a major concern to Liberian girls.