Capitol Hill, Monrovia – Plenary of the House of Representatives has mandated its top committees on Gender, Health, Judiciary, security and Finance to review a landmark petition submitted by a coalition of anti-rape and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) advocates for possible actions.
Plenary took the decision on Thursday based on a motion by Rep. Johnson Gwaikolo (District #9, Nimba County) mandating the joint committee to report within two weeks.
On Tuesday, a group of Liberians, predominately young people including men and women petitioned the 54th National Legislature to broaden its oversight responsibilities in strengthening the justice system to curb the increasing waves of rape and other forms of SGBV in Liberia.
Dressed in all black, with placards depicting anti-rape slogans, the group marched through Tubman Boulevard unto Capitol Hill and presented their petition to the Chairperson of the House Committee on Claims and Petition, Rep. Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis (District #4, Montserrado County).
In their petition, the group laid out several recommendations they believe when implemented by the Government of Liberia will help end this nightmare for the people of Liberia.
The petition from the group stated: “Increase budgetary allocation in the FY 2020/2021 budget, and subsequent budgets for Criminal Court “E”; and to facilitate the strengthening of the judicial system for speedy trial of rape and other Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) cases including the hiring of more judges to hear and determine rape and SGBV cases speedily and expeditiously.”
Also, the protesters want the government to increase budgetary allotment for health care delivery systems, ensure that all counties have functional safe homes to accommodate survivors of rape and other SGBV cases and the establishment of specialized Criminal Courts specifically to prosecute and facilitate the speedy trial of rape and other SGBV cases in all counties that do not have such courts.
The group also wants the government to increase the capacity of the Women and Children Protection Division of the Liberia National Police with funding, training, logistics, and other types of equipment.
To increase Legislative oversight over relevant government institutions including the Ministry of Gender, Social and Child Protection, Ministry of Health, the Liberian National Police, the Criminal Courts to end rape, and other SGBV related crimes were part of their petition.
In addition, the petitioners called on the lawmakers to host town hall meetings in their various constituency to raise awareness on rape and find local solutions by working with communities to hold public hearing within the next two weeks on the issue of rape and other forms of SGBV with key stakeholders, especially the national government and institutions working in the sector.
Meanwhile, debating the petition in open plenary, majority of the lawmakers expressed empathy with the petitioners and survivors of rape and other forms of SGBV, and called for urgent and pragmatic measures to curb the menace.
Rep. Haja Fata Siryon (District #3, Bomi County), called for plenary to accept the recommendations as contained in the petition to curb the barbaric acts.
Rep. Siryon called for more training for police officers and court officials including judges to accelerate the adjudication of rape and SGBV cases. Rep. Siryon also called for extreme punishment including amputation and castration of perpetrators’ hands and sexual organs if these measures are put in place and still cases continue to rise.
For her part, Rep. Moima Briggs called for the purchase of two DNA machines to aid the scientific aspect of the investigation of rape by testing alleged perpetrators.
Rep. Francis S. Young of River Gee County District #2 called on his colleagues to exhibit the same enthusiasm shown during the impeachment of Justice Kabineh M. Ja’neh in garnering support to relevant agencies to fully combat the ‘inhumane acts of violence’ perpetrated against women and children.
This year, Liberia continue to grapple with an alarming rate of Sexual and gender based violence cases including rape amid a deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Rights advocates and observers believe that Liberia, which currently ranked 177th out of 188 countries in the annual Gender Inequality Index is poised to see more decline amid the wave of SGBV cases.
Rep. Richard Koon (District #11, Montserrado County) blamed Liberia’s rapid decline to its inability in enforcing laws that are put in place to prevent these crimes and other negative vices.