WASHINGTON D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Sub Committee Chair on AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, Congress Woman Karen Bass has invited Child and Women Right Activist Wantoe Teah Wantoe to an official staff discourse in Washington D.C to deliberate a positional statement on Liberia’s rape culture, revenge porn and increasing sexual and gender-based violence against women and children.
The meeting is stipulated for Thursday, September 24 in congress woman Karen Bass Office in the US Congressional Building. The Foreign Affairs Committee is one the most paramount decision-making committee in the US congressional building. It consists of six (6) standing subcommittees of which Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations is being Chaired by Congress Woman Bass. Among several functions, the committee, coordinates legislation and oversight pertaining to the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; other matters relating to internationally recognized global rights including sexual and gender-based violence against women and children in Africa. Furthermore, the committee oversight legislation aimed at the promotion of human rights and democracy among several roles. The Committee consistently assess political, economic and security developments on the African continent, as well as the upsurge of efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, advance human rights, promote peace and security, and stimulate investment and equitable economic growth across Africa. It is a powerful space and platform to rally any intervention in crisis in Africa. The committee Work involves hearings, briefings, reports, and investigations. Wantoe’s statement will be used to further activate correspondence, fact-finding and oversight travel, reports, and further released public statements on Liberia’s rape culture and gender inequality gap.
Wantoe is a prominent voice against Sexual and Gender Based violence, from being Chair Person of the National Children and Youth Advisory Board to Youth Representative of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), to serving as youth steering member of Plan International U.K global voice for change, he is one of Liberia’s prime face for global sustainability, advocating for women and girls’ rights and contributing to youth development. To this end, he organized advocate, join rallies, online and offline petitions, protests, awareness campaigns, humanitarian endeavors and participated in dialogues and global meetings that championed the fight against Sexual Gender Based Violence. He was one of the lead organizers of the Affiliation of Child and Women Rights protest that led to the declaration of Rape as a national emergency by the Government of Liberia. At the UN he serves as a youth representative of the Sisters of Charity Federation to the department of global communication while also serving as general student body vice president for club relations at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. Being a catalyst in these roles have earned him several global awards and recognitions, He stills remains vocal against injustices. These global spaces don’t deter him as a young man with uncompromising voice. In 2016, he delivered a statement for the global youth constituent and questioned the flaws of multilateral intervention in the Ebola crisis and the impact it has on women and children after being invited by then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Humanitarian coordinator Stephen Obrien. He won several commitments through his Statement. In 2017, he wrote an Op-Ed on HuffPost calling for the cancelation of the Day Of African Child annual celebration due to lack of continental commitment towards addressing the future and current welfare of African children. In addition, he questioned the UN integrity on their refusal take extreme actions against member states with gross human rights violations and child abuse across Africa and the world in his Speech at a high level event during the 2019 high level political forum in the U.N headquarters New York.
Wantoe will articulate the challenges of babies, women and children that are consistently rape without fear or hesitation. He will also seek to rally international support to reduce our growing culture of SGBV and share