30.06.09 "Nobody Gets Justice Here!" Addressing Sexual and Gender-based Violence and the Rule of Law in Liberia
NUPI Working Paper 761 | 25 pages.
Security in Practice 5 – 2009.
>> Summary
The international response to SGBV in Liberia – in spite of having been touted as one of the great success stories in implementing UNSC resolution 1325 by the UN and the Liberian government – has so far at best been misguided.
The issue of SGBV tends to be fragmented and the response to it addresses specific issues which often fit the narrow agendas if international donors rather than taking into account the needs of the institutions of the rule of law as a whole. While these quick impact projects may be necessary, they tend to take up too much focus, and hinder a holistic approach to reforming the rule of law institutions. As long as no one in Liberia gets justice, women and children will not get it either – regardless of how many police stations and courthouses are built. The international response to SGBV in Liberia focuses too much on symptoms and too little on causes. Instead of addressing the dual system of customary and statutory law, and finding out how they can work together and complement each other, international actors often act out of an understanding of Liberia as a terra nullius – a place where nothing of what existed prior to the UN’s intervention can be used. Paradoxically, areas which do
resemble a terra nullius such as the training and competency of judges and magistrates in the statutory system, little has been done to address it through training new personnel.
Addressing SGBV in Liberia requires a comprehensive response, which takes into account all the institutions of the rule of law as well as addressing the underlying causes behind it rather than reactively patching up the symptoms.
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