-With a Call to Simplify in Liberian Pidgin
The Organization for Women and Children (ORWOCH) has launched the annual domestic violence scorecard that aims to enhance access to justice and promote equitable participation through collective advocacy and public policy monitoring around the Domestic Violence Act of 2019, launched in Monrovia.
This comprehensive approach includes several key recommendations designed to support survivors of domestic violence and improve their integration into the education and healthcare system. It is an initiative of the
Launching the document, Cllr. Tonieh Talery Wiles, former commissioner on law and treaty matters, independent National Human Rights Commission, recommends that the domestic violence law be put into simple Liberian English.
This Cllr. Wiles believes they will ensure the document is a user-friendly tool that even children can understand and be able to report.
According to her, the initiative is timely because it comes at a time when Liberia is up for a Universal Periodic Review of its human rights obligations, and these are issues that will be considered.
“This should not be seen as a way to name and shame government institutions on these responsibilities. Cllr. Wiles said, “We should remind ourselves that this is not in isolation from international law instead, it is linked to many human rights instruments.”
She, at the same time, recommends that the Ministry of Education include the PTA in the implementation of the law because they are the ones who commit domestic violence.
Domestic violence is a first-degree misdemeanor; a person may face imprisonment for up to six months, and the court may also order said person to pay compensation to his or her victim.
ORWOCH observed that despite the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act, there is limited data on the effectiveness of its implementation. Hence, the rationale for the scorecard is to provide a precise evidence-based evaluation of the progress made by the four responsible ministries (Gender, Health, Justice, and Education).
The assessment will help identify implementation gaps and challenges and inform policy adjustments and capacity-building efforts. It will further ensure alignment with international commitments under CEDWA and the Maputo Protocol and facilitate collaborative efforts across sectors to strengthen the operationalization of the DV Act.
Dr. Tennen B. Dalieh Tehounge, PHD Researcher, Universal Jurisdiction Dublin City University, informed the gathering that except for the Ministry of Health, which performs moderately, all other line ministries and agencies involved in the implementation of the document, including the ministries of gender, justice, and education scored low.
“This takes away from revenue generation and funds that should go to the domestic violence fund. Dr. Tehounge said.”
This initiative represents a proactive step towards creating a safer environment for women and children, ensuring that they have access to the resources they need for recovery and empowerment.
ORWOCH recommends scaling up psychosocial services for survivors by integrating them into primary healthcare facilities, developing a real-time reporting system linking healthcare providers with law enforcement, and incorporating domestic violence training in curricula across the country for teachers to understand responsibilities.
The implementation of these recommendations is expected to lead to improved access to essential psychosocial services for survivors, enhanced collaboration between healthcare providers and law enforcement, resulting in quicker responses to incidents, and increased awareness and understanding of domestic violence among educators, leading to better support for affected students.
ORWOCH maintains that the domestic violence law remains a critical ward-looking judicial instrument that addresses gaps within the penal code central to the rights and protections of women and girls against all forms of abuse. The DV Act of 2019 provides a robust framework to combat domestic violence in Liberia. While progress has been made, significant gaps remain in the operationalization of the law.
Making remarks at the event, Fenny Taylor Diggs, Project Manager at Medica Liberia, emphasized the need to condense both the ‘Survivor support’ fund and the ‘domestic violence’ fund and that ministries need to be realistic with what they can do with the available resources.
“It first starts with budget allocation, and without that, you cannot be able to implement anything. Diggs said, “This is provable to the work we do at Medica, and we are grateful for this work that ORWOCH has done.
