The State of Liberia received 27 recommendations related to violence during the previous UPR cycle. Unfortunately, a widespread culture of impunity for SGBV, particularly for rape, persists and COVID-19 put young women and girls at increased risk of violence exacerbated by economic hardships and despair within families. Read our statement here.
Unintended pregnancies are also on the rise with potentially many deaths of girls from unsafe abortion and complicated births due to inadequate access to emergency care.
Efforts by the State to implement the international legal frameworks at the national level, gaps still exist between these legislations and the customary laws, in particular those relating to child rights issues. The Constitution dictates that national legislation should take precedence over customary laws. In practice, customary laws are much more widely used particularly in rural areas and affect the majority of the population primarily. Moreover, the Optional Protocols to the UNCRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children child prostitution and child pornography, were both signed in 2004, but not ratified. Read more here.