Kinjor — The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) has launched a new project titled “Enhancing Peace and Social Cohesion Through the Promotion of Equitable Access to and Use of Land for Rural Women in Conflict-Prone Communities” in Kinjor, Cape Mount County.
During the program on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, AFELL President, Atty. Philomena T. Williams, informed the women of Kinjor that under this project, which is sponsored by UN Women/Peace Building Fund, AFELL will provide technical support to workers’ unions and women in concession areas. The goal is to strengthen the capacity of women to participate and negotiate in concession agreements and to monitor their implementation. She also mentioned that AFELL will provide legal aid services to victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in communities affected by concessions.
Atty. Williams further stated that AFELL has begun conducting awareness sessions for senior management and will facilitate dialogues between female workers’ unions and management. She added, “We will train concessionaires on their duties under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
AFELL Vice President, Cllr. Bowoulo Taylor Kelley, explained the organization’s mission to the women, emphasizing its focus on advocating for the promotion, protection, and advancement of the rights of women and children in Liberia. She informed the women that AFELL’s activities would be concentrated in four counties: Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Bomi, and Nimba. She highlighted that women would be provided with the necessary tools through adequate capacity-building initiatives to help them identify violations and abuses of their rights and to assert those rights. She also emphasized that legal representation would be readily available for women who are victimized in these concession areas.
During the interactive session with the women of Kinjor, several women, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, expressed their distress, stating emphatically, “We are suffering.” The women made serious allegations of sexual and physical abuse.
“We do not have jobs; we are forced into sex work to survive,” they said, citing the lack of job opportunities. “There is no support for our children. There is no farming area because the company took all the land,” they complained. The women also stated that they are excluded from negotiations where their needs could be addressed—“They say women have no voice.” They further alleged, “Bea Mountain is treating us badly. We do not have access to enter the fenced area, so we want AFELL to engage Bea Mountain Mining Management. We want to be empowered. We are appealing to AFELL to help us.”
In her closing remarks, AFELL President, Atty. Williams, mentioned that they had made several attempts to meet with the management of Bea Mountain but were denied access on two separate occasions. During the first instance, a man who identified himself as the Human Resources Manager, Mr. Gipli, informed the AFELL team that they could not meet with the management in Kinjor and advised them to direct communication to the Monrovia office, which they did, but to no avail. Atty. Williams expressed hope that the management of Bea Mountain would meet with the AFELL team in light of these serious allegations. In a related development, AFELL thanked the management of Western Cluster in Bomi County, who promised to collaborate with AFELL in its efforts to protect the rights of women in concession areas.
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