The U.S. Department of State has released Liberia’s 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, cataloguing the achievements, shortfalls and challenges the Weah administration faced during the year under review.
The Report, released Monday, March 20, 2023, underscored that Liberia is a Constitutional republic with a bicameral national assembly and a democratically elected President.
In the Executive Summary, the Report recounted, “On June 28, the country conducted a by-election to fill a vacant senate seat. Observers deemed the election free and fair. Election observers characterized the 2020 senatorial elections as largely peaceful, although there were reports of vote tampering, intimidation, harassment of female candidates, and election violence. The country held presidential and legislative elections in 2017, which observers considered free and fair. George Weah won the 2017 presidential runoff election.
“The Liberia National Police maintain internal security with assistance from the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, and both report to the Ministry of Justice. The armed forces carry out internal security responsibilities if called upon, and report to the Ministry of National Defense. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces. There were reports that members of the security forces committed some abuses.
“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the Judiciary; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including violence and threats of violence against journalists; serious government corruption; lack of investigation and accountability for gender-based violence, including child, early, and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons; the existence and enforcement of laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults; and the outlawing of independent trade unions or significant restrictions on workers’ freedom of association. “Impunity continued for individuals who committed human rights abuses, including atrocities during two civil wars, as multiple investigative and audit reports were ignored. The government made intermittent but limited attempts to investigate and prosecute officials accused of abuses during the year, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government. Impunity continued for government corruption.”
See Full Report Below: