West Point, Monrovia

So for the past couple of days we kept hearing about a particularly frustrating area of the city when it comes to rule of law, and especially victim witness protection, known as West Point. According to the online sources -- nothing incredibly authoritative, but through blogs and other websites, West Point is a peninsula that juts out towards the port, and comprises one of the world's most tragic slums. It is a human rights as well as an ecological disaster -- with over 75,000 people, mostly children, living in a tiny space of land, most of which is accessible only through the labyrinth between jutted zinc walls, garbage, and piles of human excrement. Structures here are built on piles of loosely packed garbage, and with no plumbing and few designated latrines, diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and associated diarrhea run rampant. To add to the urgency of this human rights disaster, the entire peninsula is eroding into the ocean, meaning that each year the area is flooded, adding to the health nightmare.

Today, we drove through West Point to try to get an idea of the peculiar challenges this area faces. (As a personal aside, I was relieved that we did not visit West Point earlier in our trip, as I do not think I would have been able to handle what we saw. But be it desensitization, increased toughness from what we've seen and heard over the week, or a combination of the two, it was a relief to be able to observe the area without having an emotional breakdown, as I'm pretty sure would have been the case on Monday or Tuesday). The first thing I noticed as we drove in was the audible increase, almost like humming, of people talking and shouting to each other. The concentration of bodies was astounding. The second thing I noticed was the smell. No online article or second hand account could have prepared me for the smell -- a combination of rotting meat and excrement. Finally, I noticed the children. Mostly younger children, between the ages of 2 and 5, sitting, standing, crying, waiving, smiling. Like any other children, but in this place that is still difficult to describe. We hope to get some pictures up soon.

**mary**Regarding gender based violence, there is a very high incidence of child prostitution in West Point. As we drove by a sign ("Stop Child Exploitation"), all I could see was countless children just walking around. Many are there without parents, they leave the rural parts of the country and come to the city hoping to find work or go to school. And, some do go to school while they are young. But, many are susceptible to violence because they are without parents. Some children and youth just live together. So, as Liberia moves forward, I (Mary), believe and hope they will have to tackle child protection in West Point. My eyes met with a few children and at first we both reacted nervously. I did not know what to do for some reason. And, of course, I just smiled once I remembered they are just children. They live very difficult lives, lives I cannot imagine, but again, they are just children. And, as I smiled, they just smiled back. Some smiled big, some just a shy, little small. In another world, I would have loved to get out of the car and play with them. The major slum of Monrovia - West Point is a scary place to drive through - imagine living in it, as a child nonetheless! The process of protecting children and women is slow right now but I hope it will reach West Point. I do not think I will ever forget West Point, or the faces I saw there.

***leila**Aside from it being nearly impossible to find individuals, and therefore witnesses in this place (our driver Hassan explained that if he wanted to pick up someone in West Point, they usually had to arrange to meet at a certain spot at a certain time), the close quarters make protection nearly impossible. Shanties are unmarked. Inaccessible by car. As one prosecutor explained, witnesses or victims who give their full legal names to the police usually go by common nicknames at home, making the search for someone by name also nearly impossible. Apparently, just being from West Point can be a burden in a rape trial. Jurors often assume that victims from West Point are sex workers (as this is the primary source of income for children in the area), and somehow therefore cannot be victims.

As if the situation in Monrovia weren't complicated enough, West Point adds just one more insane twist. In addition, as climate change continues, it is likely that the peninsula will eventually be completely covered in water. The government of Liberia has indicated plans to relocate the residents of West Point, but no one seems to be sure when, or how, this will be implemented. We can only hope that it won't be too late.

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.

Sweat, Sewers, and Smoke

To anyone coming into Liberia, trying to even get a grasp of the problems this country faces can be an insurmountable task in and of itself. Take a typical ride through the capital city, Monrovia. Raw sewage in the streets. Rubble everywhere. Walls of tin sheeting and newspaper held together by sheer willpower. Mmall children in rags wringing water into buckets. The only smells are that of sewers, smoke, and sweat. Impossible to describe.
So, in a country where pretty much everything is needed, and I do mean everything, how do you legitimize a narrower cause such as witness protection for victims of sexual violence? In a country where people are struggling just to survive each day, how do you make reporting crimes of sexual violence a priority? These are the questions we continue to try to find answers to.
Today, we had the honor of meeting with 4 entities that each lend resources, expertise, and sheer will power to the cause of preventing and punishing crimes of sexual violence. The first, WONGOSOL, acts as an umbrella organization for 70 member groups across 15 counties in Liberia, helping to facilitate development programs, sexual violence awareness campaigns, and health and safety across the country. The second, Action for Community and Human Development, focuses more on raising awareness, fighting the stigma associated with being a victim of sexual violence, and promoting the reporting of such crimes.
Next, we met with the Advisor to the Joint Programme on SGBV in the Ministry of Gender and Development. Here, we learned more about the the insurmountable task most women, especially in rural areas, face beyond reporting the crimes that occured to them. It was here that we got a sense that while leaps and bounds have been made in terms of getting people to report crimes, there is not much beyond that in terms of prosecutions or achievements of justice. The infrastructure beyond the infantile Rape Court (Court E) is simply lacking. The current continuous influx of refugees from the Ivory Coast into the border counties of Liberia only exacerbates the situation -- a real life human rights time bomb. At the end of our interview, we asked the Advisor how she liked living in Monrovia (she has been here about 2 years). At first, her brow furrowed in frustration with the daily struggles of life here. But then, her expression visibly softened as she described how it felt to be needed by the community she serves. It was inspiring.
Finally, we met with the Director of Liberia's pilot SGBV Unit -- a unit combining legal services, counseling, and other services for victims of sexual violence going through the rape court system. A thoughtful and eloquent lawyer, she described to us the agonizingly slow process of the rape court -- only one case at a time, one case per term, and an indefinite amount of time per case for jury trials, which are almost never waived. The defense has even been known to keep witnesses on the stand for days, asking irrelevant questions, just to frustrate, discourage, and eventually get rid of witnesses. It was hard to hear, until we asked her to compare the current court with how things were before. "Much worse," she noted. Apparently before, almost no rape or sexual violence cases were heard, because the cases were on the same dockets as robberies, murders, etc. The rape court, as slow as it is, is the first court of its kind in the country-- and one of few in the world -- to only focus on rape and sexual violence. So as frustratingly slow as the progess has been, it is still, at the end of the day, progress. The upsetting note: the SGBV Unit's pilot funding runs out this March, with no new funding yet in place. This means the unit (not the court, but the specific prosecution and support unit) could be out of commission in just a few month's time.
In the final analysis of today's interviews, again, I am overwhelmed. But I think some sanity is restored by the comparative outlook to how things were BEFORE. Sure, reporting is frustrating and often the next step of going to trial is too hard an obstacle, but before, no one even reported the crimes. So that's a huge improvement! Before, the crimes being committed against women and children were not even really understood to be crimes, much less reportable offenses without attaching stigma. There is improvement in this area through awareness campaigns and dialogues. And sure, the rape court is slow, inefficient, and so far, not very productive. But before, there wasn't even an infrastructure focusing solely on cases of this type. So that's progress.
I think when you're in a place like this, it's that kind of progress that you have to focus on, and keep at the center of your thoughts every day. I think that's the only way the women and organizations we met with today and are meeting with all this week do it. And that's something to hope for.

We met a hero today.

Today, we interviewed a woman who is a present day hero in Monrovia. She runs the Center for Liberian Assistance, a safe home for girls and women (10-25 years) who are victims of sexual violence. In the large county of Montserrado (including Monrovia), there are only two safe homes - the one we visited today and one other, operated by THINK. The Center for Liberian Assistance has 18 beds where girls and women can stay, a skills training program, a small clinic with two nurses, two social workers, and sexual & reproductive health classes. The Center began in Ghana where many Liberian women fled during the war, but then when the women returned to Liberia, the workers for the Center came with them. The girls and women have either been abandoned, raped, or trafficked. The ones who have been raped tend to stay longer.

The Center would like to work with the government but they have not received funding and do not receive support from the government. As we went into the topic of victim-witness protection, she explained that there simply is no protection for a girl or woman who wants to testify in a trial for sexual violence. There is no transportation and no place for the victim to stay. They can't return back to their community because of the stigma. So, most victims just drop their case. This is due to a lack of support and to the slow process of prosecution. While we have not yet confirmed whether this is completely factual accurate or not - she expressed that the "rape court" which deals only with rape cases deals with just one case per term. A term lasts for about four months. The Center would be ready and willing to work with government to provide the needed support for victim-witnesses. If someone in the safe home does have a case, the Center transports them to court and provides some counseling.

The Center, along with other advocates push for the government to provide more support for victims of sexual violence. One case (a trial for the murder of a 13 year old girl by her rapist's wife) made it to the Supreme Court of Liberia because so many women pushed for it to go to trial. The woman we met was part of a sit-in at the Ministry for Gender and Development, advocating for more support for victims of sexual violence.

We met 4 girls who are staying at the safe home. The youngest of the four was probably no more than six years old - the youngest one in the safe home. The girls were making puzzles, it was their first time playing with puzzles so they were pretty focused but they did tell us their names. I don't think they knew very much English.

When the girls are ready, the Center aims to reunite them with their families if possible.

Our week is full of meetings and we are eager to continue learning about the system and the experience of victim-witnesses.

**Leila here -- One thing I found interesting about the woman we spoke with today, aside from her feistiness and apparent devotion to the safe house she runs, is that she actually spent 20 years living in the United States before coming back to Liberia in 2003 (while the war was still going on). I found this particularly poignant, especially considering she brought her young son with her, uprooting herself from a life presumably a lot more comfortable in the States in order to help her home country. We've run into this phenomenon a lot here so far. People coming just to study or volunteer for a year or two end up staying and settling here for the long run because they've become invested in the cause of rebuilding. Despite the lack of amenities, the danger, and the general lack of "comfort", something about this place makes people stay. I find that very hopeful, even in the face of the current difficulties we see.

Key takeaway for the day -- it's EXPENSIVE to live here, meaning that foreign aid workers need large salaries to afford living. We learned that a decent apartment in Monrovia can cost between US $3000-$5000 a month! A quart of milk at the grocery cost almost $3. So the money that the government could be allocating -- to locally-run aid groups like the one we met today -- is spent on the salaries of international aid workers, who, in turn, blow all the money on rent and food just to live. On the other hand, more than half the population of the country lives on less than $1 a day. I'm left with one question: WHERE does all the money go???

Greetings From Monrovia!

After a long flight, complete with impromptu adjustments to the plane in Accra, we made it to Monrovia. Walking out of the airport, we were met with throngs of people -- teenage boys marching for voter registration, families loading onto the backs of pickup trucks, 20 somethings piling onto motorcycles. It seemed that anything with a working engine was being used to transport people.

The drive -- open windows, our driver Hasan blasting Akon, warm humid air and green all around. Small shanties -- some tile, some wood, some with just propped up sheetmetal. Juxtaposed against larger compounds with 9 foot walls and barbed wire. We passed the army barracks (no photos!), Charles Taylor's old compound, President Sirleaf's house, the women's police unit from India (UNMIL). And along the side of the road, people hailing taxis. People, young and old, dotted the entire 40 mile drive into Monrovia. Granted, it was a Sunday afternoon, but this might have been a glimpse into the grave unemployment most in this country face.

For me (Mary), I could not help but feel a sense of worry and anxiety as I watched women and children carrying large buckets of water over their heads and going about their daily routines. Are these the women and children we have been reading about who faced and still face sexual violence? Seeing them made the research and project much more real. They are men, women, and children, who deserve to live in a society where gender-based violence does not go unpunished. When you actually see the people, then it is not just information in an article by Human Rights Watch, or statistics in a State Department report. It is real life - very real.

Not sure if it's the lense we are bringing with us, but you can still feel the memory of the war, and can almost envision the trails through the terrain dotted with young soldiers and AK 47s. There might not be so much a sense of unease as a sense of people just not being sure of what is going to happen next. We hope this week will give us some insight into what mechanisms, if any, can restore a sense of lasting peace and belief in justice, to this nation.