Women NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL), a women group in Liberia has expressed regrets over the increased killings of women and girls without fair judicial trial and justice for survivors and victims.
WONGOSOL’s statement comes amidst the economic and social strides in Liberia, women and girls still face a significant act of violence and ritualistic killings.
A deep entrenched structural problem, skills
disparities and harmful practices have kept gender inequality unacceptably high for qualified Liberian women.
According to them, it is due to the low representation of women in leadership positions, discriminating governance concerns and policy uncertainty, that have weighed on confidence and growth of the judicial system which is a human rights issue today.
WONGOSOL’s statement issued Thursday, March 31, 2022, said it is in line with its Institutional mandates to protect and promote the rights of women and girls as well advocate equal and affordable access to justice and the promotion of transparency and accountability, WONGOSOL is concerned by the ungainly self-denial of Liberian women and girls constitutional rights to “Life” that have been shifted to alleged perpetrators protection over a period, which she finds as unlawful and illegal and a violation of human rights.
The reality is, a discrepancy shows a clear inequity of how the rights of women and girls as well children are violated every day in Liberia.
The Women NGO Secretariat of Liberia in its statement made a specific reference to cases of deaths flagged including the late Princess Cooper) between 2020 and The cases of the 2yrs old baby raped to death resulting to the death of a woman who caught the perpetrator in the act, Blessing Moulton, Baby Girl Brent of Kakata Margibi, Eliza Roberts in Maryland, Madam Hawa of Cape Mount, Odell Sherman of Montserrado, Ma Nowah in Johnsonville, Gifty Asmah Lama, among many other cases of RAPE and other forms of violence perpetrated against the women and children of Liberia.
WONGOSOL then recommended the Establishment of a process of accountability to conduct prompt and impartial investigations of unusual deaths of Princess Cooper and others and also ensure the independence and expertise of the Liberia National Police and the judiciary, for survivors’ access to justice, due process and fair trial that guarantees witness protection
They want the government to ensure that all alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations are prosecuted and, if found guilty, convicted and punished in accordance with the gravity of the acts committed, regardless of their status or any domestic legislation on immunities.
WONGOSOL further called on the government to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of everyone against any violence, threats, retaliation, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of rights referred to in the UN Declaration the statement call for the provision of an impartial and open inquiry to determine what happened and bring to justice all those suspected of criminal responsibility; as well, repeal the law so that capital punishment measures for heinous crimes a death for a death (Anyone who commits a crime where death occurs, that perpetrator as well face justice by death).