MONROVIA – The Liberia Office of the Foundation for Human Rights Defense International (FOHRD) is calling on the Liberian government to establish a commission to exclusively handle everything that has to do with rape matters, including prosecution and catering to victims.
FOHRD wants the commission be named Independent National Anti-Rape Commission.
FOHRD is of the conviction that the reason rape cases are not properly handled on time is due to the lack of a proper structural system within the government to deal with the matter, holistically.
“We need to handle this issue of rape holistically and not by various groups in different ministries and agencies. It is because of this that FOHRD believes that a commission is needed to be established to handle rape cases holistically,” said Mr. Livitti Togbah, a special guest, who read FOHRD’s statement of Intent on the need for the commission.
FOHRD made the proposal at a one-day stakeholder’s symposium, which brought together over 25 civil society actors and human rights groups from around the country.
Representatives from these organizations along with FORHD, met Thursday, October 1st, at the G. W. Gibson High School on Capitol Byepass to brainstorm and proffer ideas and suggestions as to how to engage the government on the matter.
Further unveiling the rights group’s intent, Togbah said the establishment of an independent anti-rape commission for Liberia, will help fast track all matters pertaining to rape in the country.
According to Togbah, women have been marginalized and abused over the years with a recent increase in incidents of rape against women and children.
He stressed that the national fight against rape needs to be handled holistically by a single public institution and not by various groups in different ministries and agencies.
“It is because of this that FOHRD believes that a commission is needed to be established to handle rape cases holistically,” he added.
He also indicated that when the commission is established, the government will fund it and because it will be an independent body, it will be able to scout for additional funding from donors, including Liberia’s international friends.
He urged the audience , which included representatives from the various civil society and rights groups and students, that getting their backings for the establishment of this commission is cardinal, which, according to him, shows their commitment to reducing this menace.
“It’s important for FOHRD to ascertain how civil society organizations and human rights groups feel about having a commission that will only handle rape matters,” Togbah said.
He called on Liberians to join hands with FOHRD in its quest for the establishment of this commission.
For his part, the Communications Advocate for FOHRD, Alaskai Moore Johnson, said the establishment of an anti-rape commission will help to bring everyone involved in the fight against rape under one ‘umbrella’ across the country.
Mr. Johnson said currently it is difficult to handle rape cases because there are many different government agencies, including the Ministry of Gender, the Liberia National Police, Ministry of Health and Internal Affairs, etc handling rape matters, at the result, it is difficult to collect or have fixed and reliable data.
“But if we have one commission to handle all matters relating to rape, that commission will work with all other organizations in the fight to have fixed data on rape and the fight will be approached holistically and properly,” Johnson said.
“Today, we have pieces of information and other records on rape scattered everywhere: Police, Gender, Health, Internal Affairs, etc. We need all of this vital pieces of information within and under one roof; therefore, an anti-rape commission will synchronize the national fight against rape,” Mr. Johnson said.
He further said the commission if established will bring together government institutions responsible for the fight against rape and experts as well as human rights groups in one place.
“Our partners will easily walk to the commission to talk about ending or reducing rape, or provide funding easily to help in the fight against rape. It’s our hope that the President will find logic in what we have proposed,” Mr. Johnson added.
“We don’t need to have a situation again where if there is a rape case reported or brought to one of the stakeholders in the fight, they will complain about the lack of a vehicle to move to the site where the incident occurred,” he added.
Backing the need to have an independent commission on rape, Mr. Johnson said having the commission will come with its own budgetary allotment and will also raise funding both locally and internationally.
The forum brought together several representatives of institutions and students, including the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY), National Traditional Council of Liberia, Messengers of Peace, Nimba Women Network, Foundation for International Dignity, and Young Women Christian Association among others.
Meanwhile, President George M. Weah has declared rape as a national emergency. Currently, a roadmap has been developed to fight rape and initial financial support of US$6 million from the government.