Liberia - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 36, November 2, 2020
Canada’s recommendations

Recommendations

Thank you, Madam President.

We congratulate the Liberian government for the adoption of the 2016 amendment to its election law ensuring better representation of women among candidates. We also welcome Liberia’s commitment to engage with stakeholders to tackle sexual and gender based violence.

Canada recommends that Liberia:

1. Continue efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, in particular, and adopt legislation criminalizing genital mutilation, in accordance with the Maputo Protocol.
2. Strengthen measures to end spousal and marital rape.
3. Combat widespread impunity for violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and repeal all provisions in domestic law, including section 14.79 of the Penal Code, that criminalize same-sex activities among consenting adults.
4. Prohibit discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation in all aspects of social life, including health care, education, housing and access to all services.

Canada congratulates Liberia for the recent adoption of the Domestic Violence Act, in which domestic violence is now recognized as a serious crime. We hope that its implementation will promote and protect the human rights of women and girls.

Background

Since Liberia’s last UPR, some efforts have been made to improve human rights but were met with limited results. Women and girls’ rights in Liberia are still significantly challenged and the COVID-19 crisis has seen an alarming rise of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). The President has mandated an Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on SGBV to engage all stakeholders and develop a roadmap to address SGBV by 2022. Despite recommendations from the Independent National Commission on Human Rights of Liberia, female genital mutilation is not criminalized in accordance with the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol).

While Canada recognizes some improvements in the protection of the rights of LGBTI persons such as the appointment of a coordinator to assist minority groups, the Liberian Penal Code still criminalizes consensual same-sex activity among adults. LGBTI individuals are stigmatized and experience violence and discrimination. Several victims do not report these incidents of violence out of fear of reprisals. In 2018, a bill criminalizing same-sex consenting relations was introduced in the Legislature but was never ratified. A Reform of the Penal Code to decriminalize same-sex activity is widely viewed as the first step in tackling LGBTI issues in the country.