By Grace Q. Bryant
The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), in collaboration with the Clooney Foundation, yesterday launched the Waging Justice for Women fellowship program 2023.
The Waging Justice for Women initiative aims to fight injustice against women, through strategic litigation to reform discriminatory laws, increase accountability for gender-based abuse, and to support women’s ability to claim their rights through courts. It is working hand in hand with women-led local organizations, using legal avenues to overturn unfair laws, help victims get redress, and bring perpetrators to justice.
The Waging Justice for Women Fellowship is a partnership program of the Clooney Foundation for Justice with ten partner organizations in Africa, including the Association of Female Lawyers (AFELL).
The Program is the newest initiative of the Clooney Foundation for Justice which begun in this year, 2023. It is being implemented in Liberia and seven other African countries, including Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya.
The program runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. It has paired one of the ten fellows (early career woman lawyer) of its inaugural cohort at the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia to be mentored and work along with the team to advance the rights of women and girls in Liberia over the next one-year period.
The fellow at AFELL is expected to work dedicatedly and assiduously to increase the ability of the organization to deliver access to justice for women and girls.
The program, which was held at the office of Female Lawyers on Lynch Street, bought together the Chief Justice, Government officials, Senior Lawyers, Beneficiaries, Civil Society Advocates, International Partners, and past Leaders of Female Lawyers.
Speaking at the program, the president of AFELL, Atty. Philomena Williams, said that the program will fight injustices against women in Liberia, including the harmful practices of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), gender- based violence, sexual exploitation, trafficking, rape, early marriages, gender inequality, and gender insensitive laws.
According to her, the unwarranted injustices affect the health of women, cause life-long traumatic physical, psychological harm, and deny women of equal opportunities.
“As we implement this program, AFELL denounces economic discrimination between men and women, promotes equal economic, political, and social rights of women and girls guided by the principles of Justice,” she noted.
She made an example of the Monrovia Central prison, where female inmates, including juvenile detainees, alleged arbitrary arrest and detention, and complained of bed bugs and other harsh life-threatening prison conditions, consistent with the 2022 Human Rights Report on Liberia.
However, the Juvenile Court Judge noted that it is about time that injustices, inequalities, and discrimination perpetrated against Liberian women and girls come to an end, therefore she called on AFELL, through the Waging Justice for Women fellowship Program, to advocate for the amendment or enforcement of laws that speak of injustices against women and girls.
She maintained that Liberian women and girls have suffered enough from injustices, inequalities and discrimination, adding that they deserve to live in dignity, freedom and equality.
She further explained that the data from UN Women Global Database on violence against women reveals a shocking reality that 43.3%, almost half of the women aged 15-49 years who are in a relationship, have suffered physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives.
“The situation of child neglect and abandonment is also alarming and urgent; I have witnessed the plight of countless children who are left behind by their parents and have no one to care for them,” she expressed.
She emphasized that children are placed into detention at adult prisons because the law Section 11.42 of the Juvenile Code states, “When there is no other safe or suitable place for a child’s detention, he/ she must be placed in prison for his safety.
Speaking on behalf of UN Women, Madam Comfort Lamptey said the selection of AFELL is no mistake, considering their excellent work, especially in advocating, promoting, protecting, and advancing the rights of women, girls, children and indigent persons in Liberia, since the establishment in 1994.
“Your advocacy for the repeal of laws that discriminate and oppress women and girls, as well as the enactment of laws that support the empowerment of women, has made AFELL a highly respectable organization,” she appreciated.
She also thanked the Government, through Traditional Council Chiefs, for working hard to ban the practice of FGM in the country.
“To date, the practice has been banned, but with traditional ceremonies taking place in counties where it is widely practiced, despite the announced ban, the next step is to ensure the enactment of a law that will criminalize the practice of the act,” she noted.
