“No Simply Means No,” Campaigners Tell Rapists

A march as part of activities commemorating the 16-Day of Activism to detest rape was organized Monday in Monrovia with one of the organizers saying "…if a little girl tells a man no, that simply means no." With its theme, “No Means No,” the marchers carried along with them caskets to say no to all forms of gender violence and gender-based violence against women.

Briefly speaking to journalists, Mr. T. Nelson Williams said, "A lot of our young girls and little boys are being raped, they are being abused and it's scarred them for life. That's why we are here marching today. That's why you see thousands of people marching." Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, along with thousands of citizens, joined marched through the main streets of Monrovia on Monday to denounce rape -- which has remained a problem in the country since the civil war ended 10 years ago. Some of the campaigners were seen carrying caskets on their heads to demonstrate how deadly rape is. Sirleaf, dressed in a purple suit, told the Associated Press as she marched that she and others were "marching for a purpose, to stop violence against women. We are marching for a cause." Thousands of people lined Monrovia's main Tubman Boulevard as the march brought the center of the capital city to a standstill. Gender and Development Minister Julia Duncan-Cassell said that rapes are going on all over Liberia. "Last year five children died from rape and in this year alone, we have 10 that have died; and their ages are from three to 13 years old," she said. "The number of children that are dying because of rape in Liberia is an emergency. It should be declared an emergency." She said if the Monrovia area, which is accessible to law enforcement agencies, currently has "over a thousand rape victims, it is certainly worse in rural places" Patients returning from the country's largest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, waved as the president and the marchers passed by under the sounds of drums and brass bands. Anti-rape campaigners wore T-shirts and caps and carried placards with inscriptions such as "Stop rape" and "Report it". Musician and teacher Miatta Fahnbulleh joined the anti-rape march with a group of girls from her all girls school saying that as a mother and grandmother who has daughters and nieces she "would be totally devastated if any of them were raped to the place where they died. This is a trend in our society that we all should be concerned about." Rape Campaigners Parade Caskets Anti-rape campaigners in Liberia and the Ministry of Gender and Development or MoGD, staged a shocking march through the streets of Monrovia Monday, carrying ten symbolic caskets and photos of rape victims who, they said, died just in 2013 alone. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was said to have marched along with the campaigners yesterday, among several other dignitaries, who converged at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium or ATS for the official program. Since anti- rape messages and campaigns began in Liberia under the auspices of the Government and its collaborating Non-Governmental Organizations or NGOs several years back, the public continued to be sensitized on the protection of rape victims, to the extent that court proceedings are held “behind the cameras.” But the move to parade with deceased victims’ photos yesterday on symbolic caskets followed a recent threat made by the campaigners on 26 November, to display rape victims’ pictures in their 16 days of activism as a means of claiming the attention of the authorities, if nothing was done to speedily adjudicate rape cases. At the climax of their parade yesterday, Gender Minister Julia Duncan Cassell told journalists, in an interview, that in 2012, five rape victims died, while this year alone, ten rape victims have also died. “I think the rape law is watered down; we have to make a bid more. Last year we had five victims died; this year ten have died. We are calling on the religious groups, the Judiciary and others join the fight against rape – it’s terrible, and not just the Ministry of Gender alone,” she said. Minister Cassell said while the Ministry has a responsibility to do awareness on rape issues, there was a need for families and parents of rape victims to follow up their cases upon placement on court dockets after suspects are charged. She told journalists that because most parents don’t have the time to pursue cases in court, they would always abandon their cases and go back to villages and towns- something she said, contributes to several untouchable cases. “We are calling on everybody not to leave cases on the dockets, but follow it up; we cannot have a better society without women and children,” she noted. Her comment yesterday supported an earlier response made to anti-rape campaigners by the Supervisor of the Women and Children Protection Section or WACPS, Deputy Police Commissioner Alphan B. Lumeh, who noted that the job of the police is to arrest, investigate and send the perpetrators to court. He spoke to this paper on 26 November when the anti- rape campaigners visited the WACPS Headquarters on the Capitol Bye-pass with placards carrying several messages; the Associated Press report contributed to this story by the blogger. He said at times, the Police re-arrested suspects already investigated, charged and sent to court, stressing that the Police was just one arm of the justice system here. “We sent the bad people to court after investigation, but we don’t have the responsibility to do what the court should do, “he said. It can be recalled that in February this year, Criminal Court “E” Judge Sianeh Clinton-Johnson reported that prosecutor nolle prose quoi or abandoned 280 rape and sexual offense cases during the past seven terms of court here, recalling that since the court was established in 2009, a total of 34 cases have been tried out of which 18 guilty verdicts and 15 non-guilty were brought down.