MAMBA POINT — A coalition of civil society and women’s rights organizations has called on the House of Representatives to suspend action toward ratifying the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (AU CEVAWG), citing what it describes as significant gaps in the instrument’s current form.
The coalition says that while it supports the Convention’s overall objective of ending violence against women and girls, Liberia should not proceed with ratification until concerns surrounding definitions, state obligations, accountability, monitoring and enforcement are adequately addressed.
The groups presented their position to Bong County Representative Moima Briggs Mensah, Chairperson of the House Committee on Gender, during a national stakeholders’ review of the AU CEVAWG held in Mamba Point, Monrovia, over the weekend.
Reading the petition on behalf of the coalition, women’s rights advocate Naomi Tulay-Solanke called for a comprehensive review of the Convention in consultation with Liberian women’s rights groups, civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
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She said any instrument ratified by Liberia should reflect the country’s realities, align with national development priorities and provide clear and enforceable protections against violence experienced by women and girls in homes, communities, schools, workplaces, institutions and online spaces.
“We, the undersigned women’s rights and civil society organisations, respectfully petition the House Committee on Gender to urge the Government of Liberia to pause any ratification of the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in its current form,” Tulay-Solanke said.
She said the coalition is concerned that gaps in the Convention’s definitions, obligations imposed on states, prevention and response measures, accountability mechanisms, monitoring arrangements and enforcement provisions could weaken its effectiveness in addressing Liberia’s specific challenges.
The coalition also cautioned that the Convention should not weaken protections already provided under Liberian laws or the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, commonly known as the Maputo Protocol.
Tulay-Solanke also questioned the level of participation by women’s rights organizations and other affected stakeholders during the development of the Convention.
“We are also concerned that the drafting and consultation process did not sufficiently include Liberian and African women’s rights organisations and other affected stakeholders,” she said.
“A Convention intended to protect women and girls must be shaped by those who experience and respond to violence directly, not by those who define our problems with abstract inferences,” she added.
The coalition recommended that the House Committee on Gender undertake a detailed review of the Convention’s provisions in consultation with women’s rights organizations and other civil society actors before Liberia proceeds with ratification.
It said such a review should determine whether the Convention provides adequate protections and complements Liberia’s existing legal and policy framework, including the government’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development.
To support its call, the coalition cited statistics it says demonstrate the scale of gender-based violence confronting women and girls in Liberia.
According to Tulay-Solanke, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection recorded 3,381 gender-based violence cases in 2024, equivalent to an average of about nine reported cases per day.
She also cited the 2019-2020 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey as showing that 55.29% of ever-married women between the ages of 15 and 49 had experienced some form of intimate partner violence from a current or most recent partner.
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Of that group, she said, 45.57% had experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.
Tulay-Solanke further cited data from the FGM/C Research Initiative indicating that 24.9% of women aged 20 to 24 were married or in a union before reaching age 18.
She said the data also showed that 38.2% of Liberian women aged 15 to 49 had undergone female genital mutilation or cutting, with reported prevalence standing at 52.3% in rural areas compared with 29.9% in urban communities.
The coalition argued that the figures demonstrate the need for any international instrument adopted by Liberia to provide strong and enforceable protections capable of responding to the forms of violence affecting women and girls in the country.