E.
Women and Economic Empowerment
78.
The State of Liberia has made considerable efforts to promote the economic
empowerment of women. In March of 2010, the country officially launched the Economic
Empowerment of Adolescent Girls Project. The goal of the project is to provide adolescent girls
and young women economic skills training with emphasis on non‐traditional sectors such as
security, construction, mining and business. Further, the country is currently implementing a
Rural Women’s Empowerment Project. This project, which aims to strengthen the institutional
capacity of female producers’ and entrepreneurs’, provides skills and business training,
technical assistance and business support services, market information and access to credit to
women around the country.
79.
To mainstream gender in the national development process and create mechanisms
that provide women equal access to and control of resources, Liberia has formulated the
National Gender Policy. Specific objectives of the policy, among others, include:
80.
Supporting women’s participation in development and decision‐making processes,
promoting recognition of women’s multiple roles in national development, and facilitating the
domestication of regional and international instruments of gender equality.
81.
Moreover, law reforms undertaken by the country have helped advance the economic
conditions of women in Liberia. For example, reforms to the Inheritance Law have significantly
improved the property rights of women married under customary law.
3.4
Children
82.
During the protracted civil conflict, children were disproportionately affected and
suffered the majority of the human rights violations committed. Some of the major human
rights violations against children include abduction, assault, forced displacement, forced
recruitment, forced labor, sexual violence, rape, sexual slavery, sexual abuse and being forced
to witness unspeakable atrocities.
83.
Recognizing the devastating effects of the civil conflict on Liberian children, and
following the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Republic of
Liberia has taken the following measures towards the protection and promotion of the rights of
children in the country.
A.
Children & the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
84.
The Liberian TRC was given an unprecedented mandate to systematically include
children in all aspects of the Commission’s truth seeking and reconciliation process. In order to
ensure child‐sensitive and child‐friendly mechanisms, the TRC identified and formally
collaborated with child protection agencies in the country as well as the Liberian Children’s
Parliament.
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