Young Liberians walk from John F. Kennedy Medical Center to the Women’s Peace Hub in Sinkor.
Summary:
- Dozens of young Liberians marched in the streets of Sinkor today demanding government action to curb rising rates of sexual and gender-based violence.
- Liberia declared rape a national emergency in 2020, but sexual and gender-based violence cases continue to grow. Activists said they want real justice, protection, and support for survivors.
- The young people said it is not enough for officials to receive the petition. They want the government to show results in the courts, in police work, and in services for survivors.
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives
CONGO TOWN, Monrovia – Dozens of young Liberians marched through the streets of the capital to the Women’s Peace Hub here on Thursday for an anti-rape protest. They had planned to march on the nation’s Capitol building but government officials said they did not properly request a permit to do that.
But they marched anyway, handing a petition to the gender ministry, demanding answers for why five years after rape was declared a national emergency, the numbers of cases keeps rising.
“The current trajectory of sexual violence in Liberia demands urgent and coordinated national action,” said Titus Pakalah, a protest leader, as he read the End Rape Campaign’s position statement. “Silence, delayed justice, and weak enforcement mechanisms have created an environment where perpetrators often act with a sense of impunity while survivors struggle to obtain justice and support.”
Five years after former President Weah declared rape a national emergency, as rape and gender-based violence numbers continue to rise, young activists are demanding proof from the current government of President Joseph Boakai that laws, plans, and official promises will produce faster justice, stronger survivor services, and real protection.
Titus Pakalah is reading the group position statement during Thursday’s gathering at the Women’s Peace Hub.
Government figures suggest the crisis remains severe. Liberian police recorded a 17 percent increase in sexual and gender-based violence cases from 2023 to 2024. Experts say that is likely a small fraction of the real number because a range of obstacles prevent women from reporting attacks. There is also no way to know if the numbers represent an increase in reporting of cases, or a real increase in actual numbers. More reported cases could be a positive sign if it reflects an increase in Liberians’ confidence to report cases.
The campaign said rape and other forms of gender-based violence still threaten “the safety, dignity, and human rights of women, girls, and vulnerable members of our society.” In the statement read on Thursday, organizers said slow justice, weak enforcement, poor survivor support, and unequal access to justice have allowed impunity to continue.
Their demands were specific. The campaign called on the government to fast-track rape and sodomy cases, expand DNA and forensic services to all 15 counties, train medical technicians to use forensic equipment, strengthen the Liberia National Police, create a national sex offenders registry, expand safe homes for survivors, and include young people in national GBV policy discussions.
Campaigners said it is no longer only about passing laws — it is about whether those laws work. Liberia strengthened its rape law in 2005, amending the Penal Code to increase penalties for rape and create the offense of gang rape. The Domestic Violence Act, signed in 2019, made domestic violence a crime and broadened legal protection to cover abuse in the home, including physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse. But the question raised on Thursday was whether those reforms have been matched by working institutions, especially outside the capital.
The campaign statement pointed to slow court processes, weak survivor support, limited forensic services outside Monrovia, and too little youth involvement in policy. It also argued that access to DNA testing – unavailable in Liberia so the state sends samples to other countries for testing in high profile cases – has favored the powerful over the poor.
In the statement, the End Rape Campaign claimed gender-based violence has remained one of Liberia’s most serious public safety problems since the end of the civil conflict. It said that although governments and partners have strengthened laws and institutions over time, “recent data suggest that the scale of the problem remains deeply troubling.”
The Ministry of Gender accepted the document and promised to consider the recommendations. Ophelia J.S. Kennedy, assistant minister for gender, thanked the young people for gathering peacefully.
Young people write pledges against rape and other sexual violence in the country, during Thursday’s gathering at the Women’s Peace Hub.
“We value this collaboration with you,” she said. “We commend that this stopgap awareness can be initiated. It is timely and commendable.” She said the ministry has a 116-call center for reporting cases, a legal unit that follows up with the Ministry of Justice, and stronger coordination meant to help survivors get support and faster trials. She also said the ministry had reviewed recommendations from a March 4 youth dialogue and secured initial funding to support further work with young people.
The march leaders told FrontPage Africa/New Narratives that they had been denied permission to march on the Capitol. But Jutonu Youwateh Kollie, communications director at the Ministry of Justice, dismissed that claim. In a message to New Narratives, Kollie said organizers had been scheduled for a meeting with the ministry but did not show up. He said the ministry does not issue permits without first meeting organizers and working with the Liberia National Police on public safety and the rights of others under the Constitution. “In short, they denied themselves and not the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
The activists made clear that acknowledgment is not enough. What they want now is proof that Liberia’s anti-rape response works — not only in speeches, but in police stations, hospitals, courtrooms, and communities across the country.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating Liberia” project. Funding was provided a private donor and the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funders had no say in the content.
