Monrovia – The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection Williametta Saydee Tarr says the Ministry is working along with the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) and other civil society organizations to strengthen the penalties under the Domestic Violence Bill.
Report by Alline Dunbar, [email protected]
“Because right now the penalty is not strong,” she stressed.
She spoke at the ministry of information, Culture, and Tourism regular press briefing today, May 9.
The Domestic violence bill was recently brought on the floor of the Legislature.
She, however, stated that the Ministry is including mandatory reporting in its work .
“We also feel that once a person report and act upon crimes against them most especially cases of Sexual Gender Based Violence, we want to be sure that whether it is a teacher or a police officer, whoever it is, that it’s reported to the right people,” she said.
Minister Tarr added that the Ministry is also including cyber bullying as a way of protecting citizens from attacks on social media.
She is, however, calling on every Liberian to be watchful and take the lead in reporting cases of Domestic Violence and Sexual Gender Based Violence.
“Let’s be able to report these situations when we see it.
Today it’s somebody else child, sister or mother but tomorrow it could be your own so let’s take this on as our own responsibility.”