5.2. Women organizing for peace: the narratives and strategies
5.2.3. Women’s organizational roles and approaches in the post-conflict
5.2.3.3. Women, justice and reconciliation in post-conflict Liberia
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a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as an opportunity for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences in order to create a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation; (e) Adopt specific mechanisms and procedures to address the experiences of women, children and vulnerable groups, paying particular attention to gender-based violations, as well as to the issue of child soldiers, and to provide opportunities for them to relate their stories”
(An Act to Establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, June 2005).
Clearly, the Act articulates the need to address women issues. There is no gainsaying the violence and human rights abuses that were committed against women throughout the fourteen years period of the Liberian civil wars right to its aftermath. Not only were women used as slaves, beaten and tortured, they were also the target subjects of SGBV. Aside from taking account of the experiences of women and dealing with them, the Act further provisions for the TRC to be predominantly inclusive of the civil society, also incorporating women as Commissioners. It is noted here that at the signing of the CPA, the Liberian civil society was acknowledged as vital a stakeholder in the management and implementation of effective peacebuilding and reconstruction processes in the country. To this end, Pajibo (2008:12) asserts that civil society organizations - the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) to be specific, welcomed the notion of the TRC by contributing to its establishment. Likewise, the TJWG adopted the operative goal of ensuring that issues of the past were addressed and perpetrators of crimes against humanity punished and held accountable (Pajibo 2008:12).
Long (2008:5) details that in the lead up to the final compilation of the TRC report, the Commission in 2008 consulted and engaged communities in the different counties across Liberia in conversations and hearings to take witness testimonies on occurrences of human rights transgressions and investigate them accordingly (Cibelli, Hoover and Krüger 2009).
Noteworthy here is the fact that women constituted a major part of the hearing processes, and about 48 to 50 percent of the testimonials collected by the TRC in actual fact came from the women population (Long 2008:5; Cibelli, Hoover and Krüger 2009:5), since investigating the particular role and experiences of women during the conflict, was one of the objectives of the TRC mandate. Discussing the position of women’s participation in the TRC processes, UI-2 (July 2015) articulated that:
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WONGOSOL was part and parcel of the TRC processes from the very beginning. We the women of Liberia were very involved in the TRC processes, organizing with the support of the TRC Gender Unit and United Nations Development Fund for Women.
As stakeholders we were at the forefront of the TRC dialogue that took place all over the country with women. In actual fact, the dialogues were organized by our network member organizations under the egis and coordination of WONGOSOL, and together with the TRC, we engaged more than 600 women. In each of the Counties we visited, we mobilized as many women as we could and encouraged them to be part of the Transitional Justice dialogues, to voice out their needs and concerns as we discussed, took statements and investigated issues around human rights violations. This operation thus included creating platforms for both actors, victims and perpetrators to be heard (UI-2, July 2015).
According to Cibelli, Hoover and Krüger (2009), the Liberian TRC did well in reassuring and motivating women to come forth with their testimonies, and ensured their voices and perspectives echoed in its final report that was submitted in 2009, as provisioned in Article IV, Section 4(f) in the Act to Establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2005). As stated by UI-2, most accounts of women’s conflict experience during the TRC meetings recorded their ordeals of sexual-based violence and abuse. However, these experiences as gathered from literature and some of the participants, were not extensively captured in detail in the TRC report. Tripp (2015:105) however draws attention to what has been termed the polemical nature of some of the recommendations submitted by the TRC in its final report, which amongst other proposals vetoed Ellen Johnson from holding office. In this given, the traditional truth-seeking and reconciliation processes through Peace or Palava Huts as recommended by the TRC were established instead of tribunals to prosecute war crimes.
The Palava Huts, as indicated in the TRC final report had long been the traditional platform and mechanism for resolving conflicts and problems in Liberia prior to the coming of the free Anglo-American slaves. The Report emphasizes the composition of these Huts to include
“traditional authority structures, civil society and human rights organizations, religious institutions and local communities, labour unions, victim groups, child advocacy groups, the children parliament, women’s organizations, youth and student organizations, and professional bodies. It also stresses that the Huts must not include people or persons identified, known or accused of past and current human rights abuses, or of any form of corruption (TRC Liberia - Final Report 2009: 1-2). The Palava Huts are tasked with addressing the legacies of
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past and existent violence and trauma experiences by reconciling families, people and communities through customary conflict resolution and reconciliation approaches (TRC Liberia - Final Report 2009). The overall aim of this process is to ensure the practicalization of the recommendations put forth by the TRC for the purpose of strengthening peace that is long-lasting peace in Liberia.
While the Palava/Peace Huts strategy is historical in Liberia, their emergence in the matter of post-conflict is partly attributed to women’s agency and ingenuities for the peaceful resolution of the Liberian conflict, as manifested through the Mass Action Campaign (United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office/Peacebuilding Fund 2013). Looking at the background development of the Palava Huts or Peace Forums, this study noted that its composition actually points towards the importance of women’s inclusion and role in the pillar of justice and reconciliation in post-conflict Liberia. Following on from this, UI-4 (July 2015) acknowledged that the Ministry of Gender works in synergy with women organizations to strengthen women’s participation in the Palava/Peace Huts and creates platforms for discussing successes and challenges of the implementation process. More so, from the FGD sessions, it was established that since the Palava/Peace Hut mechanism aims to foster community conflict management initiatives and women’s involvement in the process, women also liaise between the community and the local police to report incidences, seek rapid responses, and follow-up ongoing cases. The programmes undertaken by the Palava/Peace Huts initiatives span women and youth empowerment, education, sports, conflict resolution, dialogue and storytelling exercises, to include the provision of psycho-social support to former child soldiers and ex-combatants through the training and practice of mindfulness, and transforming them into peace messengers (The Liberian Peace Hut Alliance). The varied dimensions of the Palava Hut activities and the fact that the initiative is orthodox and rooted in socio-cultural norms and values, provide the basis for claims that diligent and inclusive implementation processes may contribute to the solidification of long-term peace in Liberia.
More so, several assertions have been made to the effect that Liberians believe in the integrity and legitimacy of the Palava Hut system; its accessibility to most, particularly the rural inhabitants and the urban poor population who cannot easily access legislative justice; and its decentralized, community-based, and participatory nature (Pajibo 2008:23; Danso 2016:4).
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In the framework of women, justice, and reconciliation, the psycho-social support component tallies with the process of social reintegration of ex-combatants, which involves healing the wounds of past human rights abuses through the TRC platforms or retributory tribunal systems50 (Gariba 2011). Reading the term psycho-social in the context of (post-) conflict arrangements would refer to the psychological and social consequences or dimension of conflict on individuals, families, communities, and society at large. Providing psycho-social support in this given entails engaging and undertaking different activities and processes with the help and participation of the affected to facilitate recovery, resilience, coping, and social cohesion within them and outwardly as well (IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support 2014). As earlier reviewed in chapter two of this study, the consequences of conflict are dire on human and society’s development even after the wars have ended. Conflict lived experiences are vast, including haman and humanities exposure to the harsh realities of being victims and survivors of conflict, combatants, perpetrators of violence, child soldiers, sex slaves etc. Dealing with or overcoming the trauma of these experiences necessitates the provision of different kinds of community-focused and person-focused support and services (World Health Organization et.al 2012). According to UI-1 (July 2015), providing healing, fostering trust and tolerance, and assisting to promote reconciliation are generally at the centre of the psycho-social support activities. This is evident in the following narratives by UI-1 on some of NAWOCOL’s support efforts at peace and reconciliation.
Following the end of the first civil war, the impact remained rife, as the relationship between women from the different warring tribes was strained and poor. So as a women’s organization, NAWOCOL targeted communities where tensions and such strained relationships were high. In Nimba County, the Gio and the Mano were against the Mandingo, and in Grand Gedeh County the Krahn where against the Gio and the Mano.
In these Counties, we organized women from these ethnics groups to do brushing, clearing and planting on the farms using the ‘Kou-is’ approach, which is a traditional form of farming where women work together in groups. Employing this method helped in bringing the women together in Grand Gedeh and Nimba Counties.
50 Under the TRC agenda, the government of Liberia has so far purposefully chosen the option of reconciliation rather than retributive justice TRC to bring to book offenders of past human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes or crimes against humanity, except the case of its former President Charles Taylor who today faces trial at the International Criminal Court of Justice for crimes against humanity.
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In same efforts, NAWOCOL established tailoring shops in the communities of these Counties. Women love to dress and with these tailoring shops, the tailors must come in contact with somebody who want their clothes sewed. It is somehow impossible to sew dresses for women without touching them, since measurement taking is involve. By doing so, these women tailors worked and sewed dresses for women from different communities. For instance, say a Gio woman desired to have her dress made, and the only tailoring shop in the community was operated by a Krahn women, that scenario provided them with no major choices or alternatives, but to go to the tailor to have the dress sewed. This is how they started coming in contact with each other, given that for a dress to be made, both women had to converse to decide the style. Such personal touch and conversation gradually led women in these Counties to bond and build relationships with one another.
In some cases, the organization erected schools and instituted peace clubs on lands bordering two towns from two different tribes, given to us by the leaders or people of the communities. This initiative also helped in reconciling the communities, in that, the schools accommodated and welcomed children from the different tribes, it encouraged their inclusive participation in the activities of peace clubs, and ensured the instructors and educators came from the various tribal groups.
In addition, UI-9 (July 2015) asserted that women have made significant progress contributing to the reconciliation agenda of Liberia. Making reference to the work they do as an organization to ensure justice and reconciliation and the overall peacebuilding objective, she stated:
Our strategy is that we want Liberians to adopt the culture of non-violence and deal with conflicts non-violently, by ensuring people live together in peace and understand that differences can always be amicably resolved. To continuously realize this our objective, we run a number of peace hubs in different communities through women of WIPNET in our network branches. We carry out different training and awareness programmes, some on protection from SGBV for example, and assist survivors get to the police or courts to report such incidences. Our WIPNET women also go to the peace hubs to address complaints of domestic violence as well as SGBV in such communities, when brought to their attention (UI-9 July 2015).
Women’s contributions to the justice and reconciliation agenda of Liberia is realized through awareness raising and psycho-social support to assist women deal especially with the stress and stigma of abuse and violence, as provisioned in Article VII, Section 26(j) of the Act to Establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2005). For example, the Ganta Concern Women offer counselling to women who are either victims or survivors of domestic violence
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or sexual abuse (FGD-C and FGD-D, July 2015). Likewise, WIPNET through its drama program raises awareness on issues around rape and inheritance law, as does DEN-L through its theatre and literacy training initiatives for local organizations and community leaders, with the goal of enhancing the voices and participation of grassroots communities in decision- making that aim to influence their lives (UI-10, FGD-A and FGD-B, July 2015). It is in this spirit of raising awareness and providing support that the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia pushed for the involvement of the Magistrate Courts and its associates in Liberia’s post-conflict reconciliation and peacebuilding processes, and successfully advocated for the enactment of the new Law on Rape and Inheritance in 2006 (USAID 2007:18).
Important to note from the afore-discussed is the fact that the TRC process in Liberia, like any other in the context of post-conflict peacebuilding and reconstruction, are challenged by factors such as: slow implementation of policies; the continuous perpetration and subjection of women to sexual abuse and violence; the problem of stigmatization and barriers accession opportunities; as well as challenges ingrained in the justice and reconciliation mechanisms adopted for the process. While some of these challenges are expounded in chapter seven as impediments to women’s peacebuilding efforts, the study also reckons to highlight that justice and reconciliation activities often overlap with those aimed at enhancing socio-economic welfare in the post-conflict. For instance, in assessing ‘Truth Seeking and Gender’ in Liberia, Pillay (2009:98) explicated that women were more “concerned with the loss of their livelihoods and addressing daily challenges they faced, like the lack of safe drinking water;
housing; health care; and education, rather than the redress and reparations for sexual violence.” In consideration of this, women’s needs and interests can be situated in their desire for adequate healthcare, appropriate sanitation and safe water, education and shelter, and just about the necessary welfare services as a strategic human entitlement for ensuring social and economic security.