Global Issues
Liberia
• April 26, 2012 — United Nations-backed court convicts former Liberian president Charles Taylor of war crimes with 11 counts of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone – 50,000 people killed.
• Source, transit, and destination country, principally for young women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.
• Victims of cross-border trafficking arrive in Liberia from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria.
• Women, and children from Liberia trafficked to Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
• 35% of women in Liberia report intimate partner physical violence in their lifetime.
• 10.8% of women report sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
• 44% of women report intimate partner and/or non-partner physical violence in their lifetime.
• 17.6% of women report intimate partner and/or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
• 9.9% report forced first sex.
• Rape a widespread problem.
Advocacy:
• The Sexual Pathways Referral program, a combined effort of the government and NGOs, improved access to medical, psychosocial, legal, and counseling assistance for victims
Sources: UN Women Violence against Women Prevalence Data: Surveys by Country 2011; U.S. Department of State 2010 Human Rights Report, U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011; National Post