Liberia

International Alert has been working in Liberia since 1993 and continued its work during the years of Liberia’s brutal civil war, seeking to build trust to keep communities together. Fourteen years of civil war led to the death of over 200,000 people, widespread rape and gender-based violence and the displacement of almost half the population.

Location

Security and Justice from a District Perspective: Grand Gedeh

Richard Reeve with Jackson Speare
November 2010

library: 

112010SecurityJusticeGrandGedeh.pdf

Security and Justice from a District Perspective: Bong

Richard Reeve with Jackson Speare
November 2010

library: 

112010SecurityJusticeBongLiberia.pdf

Security and Justice from a District Perspective: Lofa, Liberia

Richard Reeve with Jackson Speare
November 2010

library: 

112010SecurityJusticeLofaLiberia.pdf

During a recent community meeting in the north-western Liberian town of Vahun, in Lofa County, International Alert has been able to ascertain the positive impact its project on human security and gender-based violence has had on the communities in this part of Liberia.

International Alert recently conducted research into perceptions of security and access to justice among stakeholders in three districts of Lofa County in northwest Liberia, as part of its EC-funded Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP) project. The eruption of communal violence in Voinjama while Alert’s team was visiting the county seat provided a stark reminder of the fragility of peace in Liberia and the challenges of security provision in a remote and sensitive region.

December 2008 saw International Alert, in partnership with the Government of Liberia, host the largest peace and cultural festival held yet in the West African republic of Liberia. Taking place on a large football field in the centre of the capital Monrovia, and attended by between 30–40,000 people on both days, this was the fourth consecutive festival that Alert has organised in Liberia since the end of the civil war only six years ago.

International Alert recently brought together in Gbarnga, Liberia, members of the traditional and formal justice communities to share experiences and expertise in order to improve access to justice for female victims of sexual violence, including both women and girls.

Civil society and government representatives from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burundi recently gathered in Freetown for training on developing gender-sensitive indicators for the consolidation of peacebuilding programmes. Participants also attended a roundtable discussion on the development of National Action Plans (NAPs) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

In Liberia, the process of recovery from war includes encouraging both ex-combatants and former IDPs to return to their place of origin and resume their lives there. There are many difficulties, not least the reluctance of some excombatants to go and to stay, and the reluctance of some communities to accept them back.

Despite notable positive developments in many post-conflict countries in Africa, women’s representation in the parliaments of Liberia and Sierra Leone remains low and elections are still a considerable source of tension. This paper draws on local views to provide a largely qualitative assessment of the current state of women’s political participation in the two countries ahead of their forthcoming elections. It initially identifies the expanding opportunities for women that have emerged since conflict ended and shows how accompanying trends affect their greater participation.

Full report

Cette note de synthèse a pour but de faire connaître plus amplement la Résolution 1325, en se fondant sur le travail de International Alert dans la région de l’URM au cours de ces dernières années. Le premier chapitre expose brièvement la nécessité d’adapter la mise en oeuvre de la Résolution 1325 à des contextes particuliers, comme la Sierra Leone et le Libéria en situation de post-conflit, et la Guinée souvent exposée à des situations de conflit.

Report

International Alert is seeking to build on previous initiatives to inform and advance EU thinking on the reintegration of ex-combatants into post-conflict societies and economies. This is the second of two briefing papers produced as part of a year-long initiative aimed at reinvigorating the debate on reintegration. Based on research in Burundi, Liberia and Nepal, it discusses why the lessons of past reintegration programmes are not being learned and what implications this has for future EU disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programming.

Full report