Justice for Liberian Children and Women. We are currently facing a serious National Rape crisis in Liberia; Rape is the 2nd most commonly reported crime in the Country.  Recently, a 15-year-old boy used a razor blade to open the virgina of a 3-year-old girl and raped her. A 4-year-old child was raped by a 36-year-old man in Ganta, Nimba County. In Grand Gedeh County, a 6-year-old boy was badly sodomized by a 21-year old; currently, there is no hospital in the county equipped enough to treat the survivor. In less than two weeks, two-year-old twin girls were raped by a 29-year-old man, a 50-year-old pastor raped a 13-year-old girl respectively. In Johnsonville, a woman was drugged and gang-raped. In the VOA community, two men pulled single-barrels at a woman and raped her. Officer Harrison Roberts of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Liberian National Police, Zone 9-Deport-4 was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl who was held in Police custody. Today, officer Harrison is yet to be arrested or prosecuted. When a 15-year-old reported her attempted rape to the King Gray sub-police station, instead of the police helping to protect her – she was raped by the officer on duty. The perpetrator officer Emmanuel Wesley is still on the run. We want Justice, enough is enough of the Rape.

In July, two Judges of the 8th Judiciary Circuit court release two statutory rape perpetrators on bail without proper trial only for the judges to claimed that the suspects realized their mistakes. Judge Korboi of the 9th Judiciary Circuit court also released a 39-year-old rape suspect who was charged for allegedly raping a 1-month old baby, the baby mama, and his grandmother. These releases violate the Rape law of Liberia, Chapter 14 section 14.70 of the Panel Code and section 13.1.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law; Statutory rape is a felony of the first degree which is a nonbailable crime in Liberia. 

According to the Minister of Gender, over 992 Sexual Gender-Based Violence cases have been reported, only a handful of the perpetrators have been arrested with 22 convicted. Safe homes for survivors are being closed due to inadequate funding and logistics. Sexual abuse is being normalized and justified; people are using women supposedly indecent dress-code to justify rape when indeed over 90% of all the total number of rape cases are children. 

In a 2018 Investigation report on More Than Me Foundation,  an employee of the foundation was accused of allegedly sexually assaulting up to 30 students. The students were exposed to STDs, HIV & AIDS, and discrimination from their communities. Since 2018, Justice has not been served for More Than Me girls. In that same year, over 1,508 gender-based violence cases were reported, rape accounted for almost 70 percent of the total number of cases. These stories and many more untold survivors' stories have inspired our action to seek Justice in Liberia. Rape has become a culture in Liberia, we want an end to this nightmare. We say enough is enough.

But we cannot do it alone, we need your help to call on the President of Liberia to declare Rape as a National emergency. As young people, we are tired of living in constant fear; fear of being the next victim of rape. It pains our hearts to watch government do less than enough to fight rape and other forms of human rights violations in Liberia. Please help us reach these demands to the Liberian Government:

1. We call on the President of Liberia to declare Rape as a National Emergency

2. To build and adequately equipped Safe Homes to meet the needs of children and survivors of abuse.

2. Create a National rehabilitation and trauma counseling program for all survivors of sexual abuse.  

3. Implement the Rape Law and policies that prohibit sexual violence in Liberia.

4. Decentralize and strengthen Criminal Court E (the court responsible to prosecute all Rape cases). Increase speedily access to Justice for Rape cases.

5. Strengthen and train the Liberian National Police to handle Sexual abuse cases.

6. Include Consent and sexual abuse education in the National secondary and University curriculum. 

7. Criminalized revenge porn (recording women and girls during sex without their consent). It's barbaric and unacceptable!

Please sign this petition to demand the President of Liberia, His Excellency George Weah to declare Rape as a National Emergency. Enough is Enough! Your signature matters a lot to this movement.

#Enoughofrape #EndRapeinLiberia

Prepared by: Satta Sheriff, Wantoe Teah Wantoe, Safe Space Liberia, Affiliation of Child and Women's Rights Advocate, March for Justice and Action for Justice and Human Rights (AJHR)