Sexual Assault in Liberia

4. Sexual Assault in Liberia and the All-female Indian Unit²⁰¹

This chapter will analyze to what extent the all-female Indian unit had an effect on sexual assault in Liberia in general and UNMIL peacekeepers in specific. In order to do so, the first two sections will introduce what the situation is like in regards to sexual assault in Liberia and sexual exploitation and abuse in UNMIL. After that, the effect of the all-female unit will be discussed, and before the chapter is closed off with policy recommendations, it will be questioned whether male peacekeepers have different perceptions of female peacekeepers and local women.

4.1. Sexual Assault in Liberia

Even years after the civil war has ended sexual assault is still a huge problem in Liberia²⁰², and can usually be found on the top of violent crime lists. Since sexual assault rates are hard to track and mostly inaccurate, especially in a post-conflict society like Liberia, it will not be possible to present a comprehensive statistic on sexual assault cases in Liberia. Therefore, different reliable sources will be used to at least provide a glimpse at how the sexual assault rate has changed over the years. According to a report produced for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), there was a total of 629²⁰³ sexual assault cases in Liberia in 2007. The report also states

201 Please be aware that due to sexual assault being a very delicate issue that there is a high possibility that the provided numbers on sexual assault are only estimates and that the actual numbers most likely are higher.

202 Reports exist which claim that during the civil about 75 percent of Liberian women and girls were raped, but recently these claims have faced backlash since the number, which is usually attributed to a World Health Organization (WHO) Mission Report from 2004, was not supposed to stand for all Liberia women and girls. The report surveyed victims of sexual violence, and 75 percent of the participants reported that they had experienced rape and not a different form of sexual assault. In contrast Refugee International estimates that around 40 percent of women were raped during the civil war. For more information please see: Dara K. Cohen and Amelia Hoover Green, “Were 75 percent of Liberian women and girls raped? No. So why is the U.N. repeating that misleading

‘statistic’?” The Washington Post, October 26, 2016; Marie-Claire O. Omanyondo, “Sexual Gender-Based Violence and Health Facility Needs Assessment: Liberia,” WHO, September 2004,

http://www.who.int/hac/crises/lbr/Liberia_GBV_2004_FINAL.pdf (accessed April 23, 2017); McConnell, “All-female Unit keeps Peace in Liberia.”

203 For individual monthly numbers please see Table 4 on page 88. Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 7.

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that rape cases increased in the first half of 2008.²⁰⁴ Afterwards, not many numbers are available for a couple of years, except for a short mention in the Amnesty International Annual Report for Liberia from 2010. There it is stated that within the first six months of 2009 there were 807²⁰⁵ cases of rape in the county of Montserrado alone. In 2015 then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon revealed in a report to the Security Council that according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection there had been 1,392²⁰⁶ cases of sexual assault within 2014. Montserrado County was named as the place where most of these incidents took place. In 2015, the same Ministry reported a total of 1,555²⁰⁷ sexual assault cases, while the Liberian Ministry of Justice published in their annual report that from November 2014 to October 2015 a total of 437²⁰⁸ sexual related offense had been reported to them. This number included 239²⁰⁹ rape cases and 39²¹⁰ cases of sexual assault.

Except for the numbers from the Liberian Ministry of Justice²¹¹ all other numbers suggest that sexual assault is on the rise, but this conclusion should not be drawn to quickly. Sexual assault is obviously still an enormous problem, but some believe that the increase in recorded sexual assault incidents does not mean that there was an increase of sexual assault cases. On the contrary, it is believed that only the number of official sexual assault reports has gone up because

204 A screenshot of the comparative analysis can be found under Figure 1 on page 89. Mbadlanyana and Onuoha,

"Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 8.

205 Amnesty International, “Annual Report: Liberia 2010,” May 28, 2010,

http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/annual-report-liberia-2010?page=show (accessed April 23, 2017).

206 SG Ban Ki-moon, "S/2015/203," Report of the Secretary-General, March 23, 2015, 22. The author of this thesis tried to access the original source for this number, but the website of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is not reachable as of April 24, 2017. It was also not possible to contact the Ministry itself. Therefore, for numbers from this particular Ministry, this thesis has to rely on secondary sources.

207 UNMIL and OHCHR, “Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia,” 2016 SGBV Report, October 2016, 7, https://unmil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/impunity_report_-_binding.pdf (accessed April 24, 2017).

208 For a complete listing of the monthly numbers please see Table 5 on page 89. Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, “MoJ Annual Report 2015,” 2015, 128,

http://moj.gov.lr/data/uploads/downloads/moj_annual_report_2015_version-charles.pdf (accessed April 24, 2017).

209 Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, “Annual Report,” 129.

210 Ministry of Justice Republic of Liberia, “Annual Report,” 130.

211 The difference in numbers between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection could implicate that the trust in the official security forces of Liberia has not completely been recreated.

UNMIL and OHCHR, “Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia,” 7.

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nowadays it is easier to report a case of sexual assault, and the stigma of being a victim of sexual assault is slowly being reduced. Thus, a cycle is created in which more reported sexual assault cases mean that women are starting to stand up for themselves and trusting that the police are able to handle such cases professionally. This in turn is believed to reduce sexual assault cases.²¹²

But still, the social stigma of being a victim of sexual assault remains, and often leads to incidents not being reported. “Reasons include fear of victimisation [sic] by the abusers and a tendency to resort to traditional forms of dispute resolution or settlement out of court.”²¹³ Even though Liberia has a rape law, it is usually only enforced inadequately, and undermined by persistent traditional beliefs. While the rape law is rather progressive in the sense that it allows for victims and perpetrators to be both female and male, it does not, for example, mention spousal rape as an actual form of rape.²¹⁴ A survey conducted in 2008 by the UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division observed that 83²¹⁵ percent of the participants thought that women contributed to rape by wearing revealing cloth, and about 62²¹⁶ percent believed that women were partly responsible for being raped because they were alone with a man in a room. In addition 44²¹⁷ percent thought that rape cannot be committed in marriage. Different research from 2014 conducted by several non-governmental and governmental organizations found that among school-aged children "75 % [of] boys and 22 % [of] girls agreed with the statement ‘men are

212 Huber, “Power in Numbers?” 34; Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 7.

213 Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 7.

214Mbadlanyana and Onuoha, "Peacekeeping and post-conflict criminality," 8; US Department of State, "Liberia 2015 Human Rights Report," Country Report on Human Rights, 2015, 15,

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/252909.pdf (accessed April 24, 2017); UNMIL and OHCHR,

"Addressing Impunity for Rape in Liberia," 12.

215 UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, “Research on Prevalence and Attitudes to Rape in Liberia – September to October 2008,” 2008, 41, http://www.stoprapenow.org/uploads/advocacyresources/1282163297.pdf (accessed April 24, 2017).

216 UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, “Research on Rape in Liberia,” 41.

217 UNMIL Legal and Judicial System Support Division, “Research on Rape in Liberia,” 41.

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superior to women’.”²¹⁸ And “39 % [of] boys and 30 % [of] girls agreed that ‘sexual abuse and violence against women and girls is a natural expression of male urges’.”²¹⁹ With such points of view, it is not surprising that victims would rather refrain from reporting that they have been sexually assaulted. Progress only comes slowly through activities such as the Government’s anti-rape campaign called Stand UP Against Rape, but what is actually needed are tangible actions.²²⁰