The Foundation for Community Initiative (FCI) over the weekend held a one-day roundtable dialogue on gender-based violence (GBV) in Monrovia.
The dialogue, which was held under the theme”, Breaking the Cycle: Working Together to end GBV in Liberia”, under the Enough Project funded by the European Union (EU) brought together more than 100 participants, including young women and men, to address issues relating to GBV in Liberia.
According to Deputy Minister for Gender at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Alice Johnson Howard, more than 2,000 cases of GBV have been reported in the third quarter of the year 2023, compared to 900 cases reported in the year 2022.
Minister Howard stated that these numbers are coming out as the result of collaboration and coordination between Liberian government and civil society organizations as well as international partners to fight against GBV in Liberia.
She said Liberian people are now reporting cases of GBV, rape, human trafficking, child abuse, among others, which are bringing out these cases from across the nation.
She noted that, for some Liberian women and girls, reporting cases of GBV has been a serious taboo, but the awareness of 16 days of activism toward sexual and gender-based violence, which are against human rights, has put the matter under the spotlight—to curtail such act within the Liberian society.
She emphasized that violence against Liberian women and girls has also been perpetrated through harmful traditional practices, which some chiefs and elders in the counties are beginning to realize and put a halt to.
Minister Howard maintained that to eradicate GBV in Liberia is a process and not an event, but Liberian men and women, boys and girls should unite to battle GBV, noting that men are mostly the perpetrators of GBV in the country.
She indicated that six percent of GBV cases were against men, while ninety-four percent of GBV cases were against women and girls, which should be eliminated through identifying the root causes of GBV in the country.
She asserted that the Liberian civil war has contributed severely to the lack of economic empowerment of Liberian women and girls, one of the factors for GBV in the society.
Meanwhile, the Team Leader of the Governance European Union Delegation in Liberia, Anna Brzozowska, said gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union (EU) and its promotion in other continents such as Africa.
Brzozowska stated that the Union continues to fight for gender equality in Europe, but shares such values to protect women’s rights in other countries like Liberia.
She indicated that the Union has decided that eighty-five percent of all its intervention programs will focus on gender rights and gender equality in countries around the world.
She underscored that the civil society organizations should use their communication skills and knowledge concerning gender issues affecting Liberia.
Brzozowska maintained that the empowerment of Liberian women through education is critical to their transformation from abuse and violence in the society.
For her part, the Regional Coordinator of the European Union Enough Project (EUEP), Beatrice Newland, said the EUEP, in collaboration of with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, “marks a crucial milestone, an intersection where minds, hearts and strategies converge to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time”.
“We recognize the urgency to confront and ultimately eradicate the scourge of gender-based violence that pervades our societies,” Newland asserted.
She maintained that gender-based violence knows no boundaries; it thrives across cultures, societies, and economic strata, which also inflict deep wounds not just on individuals but on communities and nations as a whole.
She noted, “It is an issue that demands not only our attention but unwavering action.”