Buchannan – As part of efforts to curtail the many issues of gender-based violence in the country, the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection has held a two-day national gender-based taskforce retreat in the port city of Buchannan, Grand Bassa Couty.
Report by J. H. Webster Clayeh, [email protected]
The retreat, which was held from August 29-30, gave participants (mostly women) from the government, development partners and also the civil society the opportunities to strengthen coordination on GBV prevention and response efforts across the country.
Gender-Based Violence, particularly domestic violence and rape, still present a threat to the security of women and girls across Liberia in spite of significant investments carryout to tackle the menace.
Rape of minors is the most recurrent Sexual GBV crime committed against girls, According to statistics from the Ministry of Gender.
From January –July 2019, a total of 1,508 cases were reported. Out of this 1,105 cases were children between ages 0- 17 years – 1,085 were girls while 20 accounted for boys.
From the total 1,508 for the period under review females account for 1,482 or 98%, while males constitute 26 or 2% of the total cases reported.
Speaking at the retreat, Minister Williametta Saydee Tarr said the event enhance the ability of people working with GBV programs to coordinate and collaborate.
The retreat, according to Minister Tarr, also proposes strategy to help GBV victims get access to treatment, justice, protection and others supports.
“We want to be sure that we can really work around prevention because we do not want to always talk about how we can help the system rather we want to prevent people from being victimized,” Madam Tarr asserted.
GBV in the homes, schools, workplaces, communities etc are quite vivid, but not adequately reported and documented. Rape is the most prevalent amongst the reported GBV incidences, especially against girls who are below the age of 18.
Minister Tarr added: “We want to be able to really work around data collection because it’s one of our biggest areas; it is where we will have to collaborate across the sector for those numbers. We are not supposed to duplicate the numbers or the communities are not supposed to duplicate those numbers. We want to be able to gather data because it is the most importance part of our work. Collecting data will help us reduce the instances because we will have to pay attention to the areas that GBV is being high in.”
Madam Marie Goreth Nizigama, Country Representative of UN Women, praised service providers (health workers) for their “hard work and patience” in making sure that survivors of GBV have access to treatment.
The UN Women Country Representative also called on traditional and religious leaders to stand up against the increase of GBV in the country.
Giving an overview of the retreat, the Deputy Minister for Gender Madam Alice Johnson Howard added that data reported to the Ministry shows an increase in sodomy against boys.
Also, domestic violence especially child abuse, persistent non-support and abandonment of families as well as incest and child marriage are also common violence perpetrated against children, Madam Howard added.
“These forms of violence have been underscored as contributing factors to child prostitution and teenage pregnancy, which is eating up the fabric of the Liberian Society and gradually destroying the future of our young generation,” the Deputy Gender Minister said.
Children selling in the streets is becoming a serious concern in the society, she added, stressing that if the situation is not addressed it will lead to “wide spread violence that will create no safe haven for women, girls and boys”.