Winning the Battle and Losing the War: Child Rape in Post Conflict Liberia

Abstract

Ten years after the end of hostilities, post conflict Liberia is confronted with the daunting challenge of addressing child rape. Using mix methods of data collection and content analysis the paper interrogates the drivers of child rape in Liberia, and submits that there is a chasm between the legally constructed concept of childhood enshrined in statutory documents and reflected in official processes, and the traditional and cultural construction by the citizens and children themselves. The paper draws attention to the impossibility of assuring security in a context where the state has not been able to assert itself throughout the entire territory and is unable to provide basic services to its entire population. The paper postulates that current efforts at addressing sexual violence against children has not yielded many results because they are not sufficiently comprehensive, enforcement mechanisms are weak and the critical mass of support needed for attitudinal and behavioural change does not exist.