Land reforms in Liberia

By Godfrey Olukya   12-3-2014

Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf, along with Liberian Minister of
Gender and Development Julia Duncan-Cassel, welcome land reform
recommendations from Central and West Africa regional organization
REFACOF (African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests)
and Liberia’s Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI),Africa press
has reported.

As honored guests at Liberia’s International Women’s Day Celebrations
in Monrovia  REFACOF and FCI presented a statement to President
Sirleaf urging the President to include “clear safeguards and
specifics on how women’s rights to own, access, use and control land
would be recognized and protected” in Liberia’s New Land Law,
currently being vetted by Liberia’s internal vetting committee. In an
open statement to participants, REFACOF President Cécile Ndjebet
stressed the importance of securing women’s rights to land and
providing equal protection of these rights to enhancing women’s status
and accelerating prosperity in Liberia and across Africa.

“For real political and social change to take place, there are three
issues that need to be addressed, we need legislation that protects
equal rights for women, mechanisms that provide for political and
social equity, and a change in social and cultural perceptions of
women,” said Cécile Ndjebet.

The recommendations presented were the outcomes of the Third Regional
Workshop on Gender, Climate Change, Land and Forest Tenures in Africa,
co-organized by REFACOF and FCI, with support from the Rights and
Resources Initiative (RRI)  The workshop convened women participants
from 16 African countries, and included donors, development partners,
and issue experts.

During the workshop, participants discussed the insecurity of women’s
land protection in Liberia’s current land reform policy. Despite the
promise made by President Sirleaf in an interview with Reuters last
year, in which she stated, “women will have the full right to own
their land like anyone else,” clear safeguards and specifics on how
these rights would be realized in practice have yet to be included.

“We must remember that action is necessary and we need more than just
promises,” said Solange Bandiaky-Badji, Africa Program Director for
RRI.

In Liberia, land conflicts remain the single most explosive issue,
which, if not adequately addressed, could undo years of progress. The
requested policy provisions not only stand to prevent rollback, but
provide a path forward in empowering women and enhancing their
representation and participation in all aspects of life, not just in
Liberia, but across Central and West Africa.

Should REFACOF and FCI’s recommendation come to pass, they could
propel land equality, and greater gender equality, across the region,
in country such as Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, and Senegal, where land reform processes are just beginning.

END