MONROVIA – In almost all recent elections in Liberia, there have been incidents of violence reported against women, including those contesting.
Report by Mafanta Kromah-Jabateh, Contributing Writer
In the 2018 representative by-election in Montserrado electoral District #13, electoral violence targeted candidate Cornelia Kruah-Togba. Although the Liberia National Police says it has concluded an investigation into the violence, it is yet to publish the finding.
In 2020, similar violence erupted in Montserrado electoral district #15 where candidate Telia Urey’s supporters were chased and injured, and her vehicle smashed. In the same year, candidate Edith Gongloe-Weh suffered similar violence when she contested in the senatorial byelection for Nimba County. Edith would go on challenging the elections result and called for a rerun, but that was denied by the Supreme Court of Liberia. Neither Cornelia, Telia nor Edith won their elections; and absolutely no one has been held judicially responsible for the violence.
Then, there was the situation involving Gboto Kanneh in Gbarpolu County, where traditional mask dancers were made to block people from casting their ballots on elections day, more so in places where candidate Kanneh was expected to gain more votes. This was a classic situation of tradition coming in clash with politics.
Candidate Kanneh eventually won the election as senator, but the turbulent incidents that marred her campaign, just as were with Cornelia, Telia and Edith, were sufficient justifications for a collective regime that protects women from violence in elections was cardinal.
With support from UN, Liberia now has that regime. Under the Women Empowerment and Political Leadership (WEPL) project, Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) received support for the development of an important instrument signed between it and registered political parties to make political environments safer for women and girls.
The Protocol on Violence Against Women in Elections and Politics in Liberia, abbreviated as VAWiE/P came into being after a rigorous consultation process; and has been signed by 29 of Liberia’s 33 registered political parties. It obligates political parties to make sure that women are involved in every aspect of electoral processes, including, that women are involved in the decision making of the parties, not just serving women wings.
“This Protocol is fully supported by UN Women through Canadian funds; and we’re grateful for it,” says Manakabay Donzo, NEC’s senior gender officer.
She continues: “The Protocol was an idea by UN Women and NEC’s Gender Section on the backdrop that violence against women has increased in recent elections, including violence against candidates Gboto Kanneh in Gbarpolu County; Telia Urey in Montserrado District 15; Cornelius Kruah Togbah in Montserrado District 13; Edith Gongloe-Weh in Nimba County, among others. The Protocol aims to eliminate violence against women in elections and politics.”
The Protocol defines violence against women in politics as any act or threat against women in politics, women activists, women socialists, women candidates, and women public and private officers
VAWIE is at the intersection of political violence and gender-based violence (GBV). It targets women who participate in public or political life because they are women and often is perpetrated in highly gendered ways.
This form of violence is highly gendered in its motives – to maintain male dominance in political leadership; in its various forms – which are not only physical but also sexual and psychological. Many women avoid politics because of the perceived risks to their personal safety and reputation.
In Liberia, women have always been left behind in politics and elections, despite being almost 50% of the country’s population.
According to Donzo, with this protocol, women will have that sense of ownership. “They will have that sense of protection, because, mind you, the protocol has its own rules which state that if you go against the protocol from the IPCC backdrop, you will have to go through penalties. So, no political party would want to go through those penalties. They will have to be on path to make sure that they follow whatever the protocol says.”
In addition to developing the VAWiE/P Protocol, UN Women is praised for its immense support, financial and technical, towards the development and subsequent passage of amendments to the elections law. The amendments were passed by the House of Representatives in February 2022.
While the intent remained largely for NEC and political parties to take affirmative action for increased women representation on political parties’ candidate listing, advocates believe the structure of the language in the existing law lacked accountability mechanisms.
Before the passage of the amendment, the existing law said political parties “endeavor to ensure” no less than 30% of either gender but included no requirement for political parties to demonstrate that they ‘endeavored.’ There was also no mechanism for NEC to reject the candidate listing which doesn’t meet the threshold.
Now, amendment to Section 4.5 (1b) would replace ‘endeavor to ensure’ and ‘endeavor to have’ with ‘shall ensure,’ hence requiring political parties or coalitions to ensure at least 30% of either gender in their party leadership, while Section 1c would require candidate listings to have no less than 30% of candidates from each gender. Section 1e is also a much-needed accountability mechanism, as it would give NEC the explicit power to reject a listing which does not meet the 30% threshold.
This is the change in language advocates believe would guarantee effectiveness of the law. Thanks to the WPEL project for supporting this reform.
Sustaining the gains made and opening new frontiers for women and girls in Liberian politics would be a new chapter that UN Women and its donor could begin to explore, because patriarchy is still strong in Liberia. This is worrying beneficiaries of the projects who think more still need to be done to cement what has been achieved under the project over the years. For example, although the amendment to the elections law has been passed by the House of Representatives, it must be passed by the Liberian Senate to become a law, hence binding on political parties to ensure candidate listing to NEC has at least thirty percent of either gender.
NEC also relies on the passage of the amendment by the Senate so that it can adequately exercise the authority vested in it by the law. In the absence of the law, NEC cannot compel political parties to adhere to the 30% gender quota; and this would make all the initial success scores go in futility.
There is also the question of implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of the VAWiE/P Protocol – especially as the 2023 general and presidential elections draw closer. All these cannot be done without sustained efforts – and this worries NEC’s gender section.
“We are highly relying on UN Women to have our activities rolled out for this 2023 elections. NEC has a gender policy. We want to update the policy. We also want to update the draft Disability Policy. We want to make sure that this draft policy becomes an actual policy.
“UN Women cannot go out of the picture, because that would create a huge vacuum for our gender activities, and generally, women and girls support programs in Liberia. They have always been there and I’m sure they will always be there for us,” Donzo concludes.
Josephine Kou Gaye is Commissioner with oversight on gender at Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC). Commissioner Gaye wants UN Women to support the translation of the Protocol on Violence Against Women in Elections and Politics in Liberia into Liberia local vernaculars and braille to achieve inclusivity in electoral processes.
“One of the supports we still need from UN Women is the translation of the Protocol into our local vernaculars. Remember, many of our people do not read or understand standard English. If we speak of inclusiveness, then let everyone participate. So, we want the protocol translated in vernaculars, and braille for our vision impaired and persons of other disabilities. People with disabilities must be and should be included in our electoral processes.”
It’s request like this the UN Women has been supporting NEC and other organizations over the years.
When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, development agencies reallocated funds to humanitarian response. In Liberia, budget spending was adjusted towards combating the virus, and this affected almost every public institution, including the National Elections Commission, where virtually all budgetary allocation for the Gender Section were cut off.
The situation continued for nearly two years, leading to either relegating or cancelling gender-sensitive activities by the Commission. This could have kept more women and girls out of politics in a system already dominated by men.
It was UN Women who stepped in, and other donors followed.
In 2018, UN Women first supported NEC to develop the very first workplan for the Gender Section, and from there, support from UN Women kept coming in different forms, according to Manakabay K. Donzo, NEC’s senior gender officer.
Donzo describes UN Women as NEC’s pivotal partner when it comes to rolling out women and gender activities. “UN Women has actually been our backbone. Many times, we don’t have money in the budget internally for the gender section. UN Women has always been there to support us. For example, during the COVID-19, there was no funding for the gender section in the budget, but UN Women was with us all the time- providing technical, financial and material support in the implementation of gender-focused programs.”
The UN body delivers programmes, policies and standards that uphold women’s human rights and ensures that every woman and girl live up to her full potential.
With funding from the Canadian government, UN Women has been implementing the Women Political Empowerment and Leadership (WPEL) project in Liberia – supporting the government alongside several local institutions, big and small.