A Country in Transition

One question that keeps coming up naturally, is how does Liberia rebuild its country and also protect women and children from sexual violence? Meeting the International Center for Transitional Justice shed some light on this issue. The ICTJ works to redress grave human rights violations by addressing past crimes committed during war. So, the ICTJ really believes that accountability for the rape and crimes that took place during the war is crucual. I agree fully. Without sending a clear message that what happened is NOT ok, how will the people in the country ever believe that sexual violence now is NOT ok? This appears to be a major obstacle in addition to or contributing to the lack of accountability for crimes of SGBV that occur present day. How and when prosecutions will take place is complicated and will be in our final report.
One major obstacle to prosecution for the rape which occurred during the war is that there are former warlords who currently sit on the legislature.
During the meeting, it was proposed, and again I agree, that education of girls is crucial. If girls and women are protected and encouraged to get an education, they can become integral parts of society. They can position themselves in important roles in the legislature etc. The irony is that the President is a woman - the first in Africa! But, this does not seem to trickle down to the girls in the country, who are largely uneducated and seen as ready for marriage at a very young age.
There has been progress though! Liberia has been largely stable for seven years, which is the longest stretch of stability since 1990. It is a long process to rebuild the country because there are two generations of missed school due to the war, in addition to all the psychosocial effects and infrastructure damage. But, the continued stability is surely a sign that the they are moving forward. The man from the ICTJ says that the consensus of the people is that they do not want war again. They have seen the horrible effects of it and want to move forward. This is also a really good thing.
At the end of the meeting, the man told me that he was here during all the years of war (many fled to surrounding countries). Despite all that he saw and endured, he is working hard to rebuild his country. This is a really beautiful thing.
We also heard from International Rescue Committee (IRC) about their safe centers and efforts to work with women in the community to offer victim-witness protection to victims of SGBV who seek legal redress. This was encouraging.
Lastly, it was not as hot today which was a relief. Also, we noticed a lot more construction today. You can sense some hope as you see the roads being repaved, and buildings rebuilt.
The country is moving forward, even if it is a slow process. The advocates and government officials we are meeting with are pushing to make sure that protection of victims of SGBV and accounability for these crimes continues to be part of the process, again, no matter how slow it is - it is part of the process.