Endangered Children In Webs of Rape, Abduction and Trafficking

The Analyst ( Monrovia)
NEWS
February 21, 2006
Posted to the web February 21, 2006

The good future envisaged for Liberia after several decades of war and its attendant vicious aftermaths upon citizens refuses to take shape in the lives of the people, especially children, whose innocence and powerlessness reduce them to all forms of abuses and violations in the context of a lax judicial system and abject poverty of the vast number of citizens. Never does a new report or research emerge from the multiplex of humanitarian agencies and non profit organizations than a whole roster of new catalog toll the vast dehumanization of very young children in this postwar society.

Observers say the fond hope that with peace comes serene happiness for all spectra of society, has mostly been an illusion and even now that the nation has a democratically elected government, it remains to be seen whether children will be afforded the conducive environment in which they can grow, seek advancement and enjoy all accesses to proper care and nourishment to become strong and effective adults of the coming years. The Analyst Staff Writer has been combing through the gory details of findings of the National Child Rights Observatory Group and has pieced up the following narrative that prods the conscience for essential reforms in the way this society is traversing for children to lead decent lives and assume their catalytic roles for overall progress of the country.

But if anyone had asked the 14 year-old, John Gba, whether the war had ended with his 11 year-old sister, Dekontee having been debauched in broad light by a 50 year old never-do-well drunkard, you would be sure that his answer would be in the negative. This would be a normal response except if the perpetrator of the heinous crime of child rapist were in the picture.

Children are the easy targets and they are catching it hard in the postwar atmospheres where even demobilized fighters and their traumatized war affected youth, after years of being inured and callous to inflicting pain still need reworking of their minds in cash stranded reintegration program, followers of the civil war have said.

John Gba, Dekontee and many other children had never foreseen this time as the moment for relapse in violations of the rights of children to decent upbringing. But they are faced with this ugly past that reminds them of war in peacetime.

According to the NACROG, after a yearlong study of children's problems in almost all counties of the country as well as following up on the situations of children, sexual exploitation and abuse of children remained pervasive or rampant all over the country.

This category includes the not frequently noticed offering of cash and material things to minor females to sever their virginity and induce unwanted pregnancies since it is almost understandable that cash masterminds the bending of willpower of the poor girls.

The report of the pro-democracy and human rights group noted that a broader sweep of abuses and violations are in the category of rape/ incest/ gang rape.

In this category, the organization reports that it documented a total of 48 cases of rape in 8 counties with 16 of the cases pending in the court houses, six (6) settled by court procedures while a huge 26 cases were settled by family means while the victims were mostly left to their families to resolve their cases.

One case of death from this criminal activity is reported.

For incest, 6 cases are documented according to the organization with the prevalence been noted in Montserrado and Margibi counties. But for this criminal activity, it is noted that only one case was pending court adjudication throughout the survey while the remaining five were settled by family resolution procedures.

Hopefully though, the report indicated, cases of gang rape, which carries death penalty in the new rape bill, were seven with all such incidents been prosecuted in court in Montserrado county, the place of the high prevalence of the crime, with gangs trying sexual act out with other children, one of which led to death.

It is also reported that an uncommon form of molestation reported is sodomy that seems to be easily permeating the society. These clients are very young boys been offered such items like bicycles or attractive items like watches, cell phones, food, clothing and cash that victims could never afford by themselves, the report further noted.

The NACROG reports that six such cases were discovered, mostly in Montserrado County, with parents not displaying any desire whatsoever to pursue legal redress for their children that are being destroyed.

As if arrangement between child and abuser were not sufficient source of the dangerous dimension of this practice, the human rights group asserted that parents of children are also carrying out what is referred to as "forced and early marriages".

Under pressures for funds to make ends meet in a poverty stricken environment, parents are said to be invoking tradition to give out very young females to males of their choice in violations of the dignity of the offered children.

Bartered as such for cash to males against their wills, they are not shown love but brutalized to conform to their new status of forced wedlock that defies the consensual nature of marriage, says the report, adding that their young bodies - still in the process of development - are thwarted and malformed leading to relationship disturbances that imprint upon their young minds.

The situation is reportedly further exacerbated by child labor where children are forced to do adult's work or work for their own sustenance alongside those of their parents. "The sale of food, cold water" and other wares by children in the streets as well as in most parts of the country is stunting their educational progress, the report alarmed.

But while some of the kids may be allowed to go to school, it is said that they are however prevented from studying their lessons and have to spend protracted time outdoors to sell their assigned materials.

"Prostitution" is also to be noted in this scenario, as the cyclical stratification of society enforced by poverty circumscribes girls eking their survival through this means.

The NACROG report enumerates the pervasive scope of child labor in all counties of the country, with more rigors in counties that are being resettled by returnees and internally displaced persons, who must seek the construction of their dwellings and also cultivate farms for their food supply for the next season.

The report substantially treats all categories of hardships been visited upon children of this country and calls for all stakeholders of the country to press or push for reforms as well as to fully implement all international protocols, conventions and instruments for the advancement of the standard of wellbeing of children.

It is hard time that these details must be related for the fostering of peacetime well being of children.

This is the time to act and to act with decisiveness to reduce social dragnets that perpetuate the problems of society.