Monrovia – The Organization for Women and Children (OWORCH), a local based nongovernmental organization on Wednesday, January 4, launched a massive awareness campaign and community training to create awareness on access to justice and Sexual Gender Based Violence in Monrovia.
The community training was held in five communities in Monrovia and its environs.
It aimed at improving community reports of SGBVs case by providing adequate knowledge of the referral pathway, highlighting the relationship between alcohol and violence against Women.
During the campaign, ORWOCH supported communities to establish SGBV taskforce to increase citizens’ reports about SGBV cases in their communities.
The SGBV taskforce includes men and women.
Executive Director of ORWOCH, Mmonbeydo Harrell, stressed that gender inequalities increase violence by men against women.
She said traditional beliefs that “men have a right to control women make women and girls vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual violence.
“They also hinder the ability of those affected to remove themselves from abusive situations or seek support,” she said.
Harrell said such violence, which mostly takes place in the communities, most often gets undetected if the community does not get involved.
She called on the newly established task force to ensure that all cases involving SGBVs are reported.
Harrell also stressed that the job of the task force is not to adjudicate cases in the community, as that would be against the law.
As part of the campaign, ORWOCH also educated the communities on local and international protocols that protect women against violence, and ensure communities are knowledgeable of the court process.
ORWOCH champions the rights of women by increasing their participation in decision-making and advocates for the reduction of sexual and gender based violence in Liberia.
The group is supported by the program “Tackling Violence against Women beyond Borders” and is implemented by a consortium composed of Oxfam Ibis and Impunity Watch.
It aims to promote a life free from violence and as active citizens for women, adolescents and girls.
The group also empowers women as change agents, fostering greater awareness of gender equality and women’s rights, while enhancing the prevention and response to violence against women by public institutions and regional and international authorities and seeks to address unequal gender power relations through a transformative approach.
The program is financed by the “Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women” (FLOW) funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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