Sexual Abuse In Liberia Essay

Young women and children in Liberia have suffered for many years with men sexualy abusing them. Girls as young as 8 years old have been battling it everyday. Sexual abuse and violence has continued to be a huge issue in Liberia. SGBV (sexual gender based violence) is the most significant human rights issue in this country. “There is an estimated 60% to 70% of the population to have suffered in some way from SGBV” (“Aid Workers”). An 8 year old girl was raped by her 20 year old cousin the year the 14 year long civil war ended. The case wasn’t reported until 3 years later. The young girl died due to injuries related to her being raped. Sexual abuse became common around the time Liberia was being torn apart by the civil war. The Liberian government has funded a special court just to hear SGBV cases hoping to eliminate such crimes.

Sexual violence is effecting Liberian women in many different ways.The majority of rape victims are under the age of 18. About 15% of women raped get pregnant. Liberia has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the world. This is happening because teen girls don’t know their reproductive rights so men take advantage of them. Prostitution is also common in this country. 12 year olds and up are regularly involved with selling sex for money ( “Liberia: the Impact”). Besides women getting taking advantage of, getting involved with prostitution ,and getting pregnant there is the effect of mental trauma on victims. The impact on victims includes self blame, suicide, secondary victimization, victim blaming, and social consequences (“Effects”) . ⅔ of Liberia’s rape victims are children. “65% of the 1,002 cases reported in 2013 were aged between three and 14”. But only 137 cases were brought to court and ...

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...nded many smaller organizations including the Joint program. The Joint program is trying to address the rather large issue on sexual abuse in Liberia. they try and get the message through with prevention and response measures. Their main plan is to minimize SGBV by at least 30%. Protection for people who were raped is available at the program (“Joint Program”) .

Liberia is a broken country that is in the middle of putting its pieces back together. The 14 year long civil war has torn apart Liberia and introduced a horrible human rights issue. Women are suffering everyday with what the civil war has brought to their country. And Families are mending from their losses. But now that a new president was elected after the war, the Liberian government is Funding many organizations and a special court to try and fix their broken home. And finally bring the peace back.