MONROVIA, LIBERIA-UN-Women Country Representative to Liberia is calling for concerted and sustained investment in the fight against Sexual Violence in the country.
Madam Comfort Lamptey said:” Investment in Sexual Based Violence remains low in Liberia.”
In the UN-Women 2023 report, Madam Lamptey said:” About two-hundred-forty-five million women and girls suffer physical and sexual violence, especially in areas where information is not available.”
She disclosed that intimate partner violence is high in Liberia, with sixty percent of women between the ages of 15 to 49 experiencing physical violence.
Madam Comfort Lamptey spoke on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at the Partners’ Café on SGBV prevention in Liberia.
Meanwhile, WHO Country DirectorDr. Peter Clement, term sexual Gender Based Violence as a core element of the family that needs attention to ensure a safe society.
Dr. Clement wants the essential investment package toward SGBV to prevent and tackle the menace in Liberia.
He recognized the work that has been done globally and locally to tackle violence against women but maintained that it is still far from reaching the goals of ending it.
Speaking at the UN-Women Partners’ Cafe on SGBV prevention, Dr. Clement identified partnership and collaboration through investment as the surest way to win the fight against SGBV in Liberia.
Dr. Peter Clement disclosed that under the EU/ UN Spotlight Initiative, lots of efforts and mechanisms have been employed towards ending SGBV in the country and globally.
At the same time, Gender Minister, Williametta Saydee-Tarr, has affirmed the Liberian Government’s commitment and willingness to tackle SGBV in the country.
Minister Tarr made reference to the government’s strides in tackling the menace during the COVID-19 pandemic in Liberia and also reiterated calls for adequate investment in the fight against SGBV.
The Gender Minister, however, said the SGBV Taskforce set up by the Liberian Government through the Gender Ministry has helped in deterring would-be perpetrators from committing the act.