10.07.2015 Views

wr2014_web_0

wr2014_web_0

wr2014_web_0

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

AFRICAministry administrators, and others also severely undermine the dispensationof justice.An estimated 80 percent of detainees are subjected to extended pretrial detentionas a result of the understaffing of the courts, inadequate funding for thejudiciary, and lack of coordination between the police and the courts. Butgreater attention by both the government and donors led to some improvementsin this sector. Liberian officials, with external support, created a regionalhub system, which is intended to decentralize the security and justice sectorsby placing armed police officers, immigration units, and judges in five regionalcenters outside of Monrovia. The first hub opened in Gbarnga, the capital city ofBong County, in 2013.Sexual ViolenceSexual violence against women and girls is rampant. Hundreds of cases werereported to and documented by the Ministry of Gender and Development. Thenumber of successful sexual violence prosecutions remains low due to poorevidence gathering, the reluctance of witnesses to testify, and deficiencies inthe judicial sector. In large part because of these problems, the establishmentin 2008 of Criminal Court ‘E,’ a special court designed to fast-track cases of sexualviolence, has resulted in few prosecutions.Truth and Reconciliation Commission and AccountabilityThe government made some progress in implementing the recommendationsthe Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made since 2009. In June, thegovernment released a plan for promoting national peacebuilding and reconciliation,and in October launched the National Palava Hut Program, envisioned tofoster reconciliation through community and grassroots dialogue. The planadvocates for reparations, but ignores the commission’s call for prosecutions ofthose responsible for war crimes committed during Liberia’s two armed conflicts,for which there has still been no accountability.137

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!