BRIEF PRESENTATION ON WOMENS LAND RIGHT

A LIBERIAN PROSPECTIVE


BY


ROSEMARIE BANKS JAMES





April 26, 2010




















INTRODUCTION


Liberia is a country coming out of a conflict that affected the lives of many especially women
and children. In December of 1989, the country began on a path of civil war that lasted until
2005 when a democratic government was elected. The war left the Liberia totally
devastated and it was referred to as a failed state. Many lives were lost, institutions
destroyed, hundreds of thousands people became refugees and internally displaced
especially those from the rural areas. Many have yet to return home because they have
established roots in other countries or counties. Today, Liberians have begun on the path of
rebuilding the country and are grappling with a myriad of issues of a post conflict society:
poor infrastructure, weak institutions, poverty, group conflicts, security and most important
of all land conflict. These issues find their roots in the scarcity of resources and its
distribution within the society.

In 2007, the Governance Commission, in accordance with its mandate, began discussion
with government agencies, national and international organizations issues of land reform in
Liberia. The general issue on land reform begins with how land ownership was established in
Liberia. To address this issue, the following instruments were reviewed, namely: the
Constitution, Property Law, the Decedent Estate Law, the Inheritance Law and the Laws
governing the Hinterland, amongst others. As Liberia moves forward from the difficulties of
its past, it is our hope that some if not all of the problems and obstacles will be addressed
and resolved to the benefit of its people especially women and children and that women will
be a part of the resolution of these problems/obstacles.


National demographics:

Liberia is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa besides Ethiopia that has never been
colonized. Liberia is one of the oldest African Republics, but on the other hand it is new
coming out of many years of conflict. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is determined to put
these unpleasant years behind us and under her leadership, many developments have
emerged and are still emerging especially with respect to women and women rights. Before
the civil conflict, the population of Liberia was 1.5 million. Presently, the population of
Liberia according the 2008 census conducted by LIGIS is 3,489.072 and is growing at an
annual rate of 2.1%. According to the 2008 census, women make up about 49% of the
population. This growth is influenced by five factors: (i) high fertility rate (ii) the large
population of women of reproductive age (iii) the practice of early marriage (iv) the practice
of polygamy and (v) the low use of contraceptive. From the result of the census taken in
2008, it is very clear that majority of the population lives in the urban area and mainly in
Montserrado County where the capital Monrovia is seated. This large population explosion in
the urban area is also due to the migration of people from the rural areas to the urban
areas during the civil crisis. Therefore it is safe to say that over half of the population lives
in the urban areas. However, the present Government is taking steps to ensure that people
return to the rural areas by sending development to those areas.


Overview of the Countrys economy and tenure system

Liberia being a small country with a population of almost 3.5 million, has a per capital of
USD 765 at purchasing power parity. Its domestic market is small. The IMF country report
found much to commend the government for its recent economic performance. However,
there exist many problems one of which is unemployment. Unemployment has remained the
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major problem for government and although revenue has increase substantially,
unemployment remains the same. On the other hand, when it comes to domestic products
and with the exception of forestry, agriculture remains the dormant sector follow by rubber,
cassava and rice. Majority of those in the agriculture sector are women especially the rural
women according to the 2008 census mentioned above and these women are today playing
an active role in the growth of the economy.


Legal and Policy Framework with women status

The issue of womens participation in government is very important and should be treated
as such. Women from all areas and at all levels should be encouraged to participate not only
in politics but in decision-making. Liberia has been a beacon of example for women in Africa
since it elected the first woman President in Africa. However, there is still a long way to go
for the majority of the women in Liberia to be ably represented in parliament and decision-
making positions. For example, in the legislative branch of government there are only 14
female legislators out of 94 members which make it impossible for women to be fully
represented in decisions affecting them.

The Liberia Constitution guarantees equal protection for women and men, however, under
article 11, there is no explicit definition of discrimination against women and although
women make up 49% of the population, they are somehow denied an opportunity to
participate at all levels of the decision-making process. The Constitution does not directly
include mechanisms that will expressly guarantee women equal right or fair participation in
areas of decision making and participation in politics. The reality for women in Liberia is that
those who are seeking an elective office face greater challenges compared to their male
counterparts. These challenges emanate from the political system, its structures, as well as
election laws. Because, most women lack the financial capacity that men possess to enable
them contest effectively an elected position, they are underrepresented and the result is
that they end up not being the architects of decisions affecting them.

The disproportionate representation of women in parliament/Legislature affects their
representation on committees as they are thinly spread. The lack of gender responsive
decisions also affects the general status of women in the country and in response to this
need; the Womens Legislative Caucus in partnership with the Women NGO Secretariat of
Liberia (WONGOSOL) have come up with the Fairness Bill which is aimed at increasing the
participation and representation of women in the political process by amending of the New
Election Law of Liberia. The thrust of this Bill is that it is providing for a 30% representation
of women in parliament through an amendment of the electoral law and although the intent
of the Bill is good as it relates to womens participation in government and politics, the Bill
does not reflect the participation of women in all areas of government or politics. Moreover,
the Bill also does not say anything about empowering women through education to
participate in the electoral process.

Many civic organizations are also suggesting that the Constitution recognized the principle
of equality between men and women by addressing past gender imbalances and then make
specific provisions for same in the Constitution. It should safe guard the interests of women
by providing for a quota system as provided for in the Protocol to the African Charter on the
Rights of Women in Africa. This is why the Liberian National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and
UNSCR 1820 among others recommended for harmonization of the statutory and traditional
Justice system to enhance the rule of law and provide women greater access to Justice. The
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amendment and revision of the constitution should reflect and ensure for the participation of
women in Government and political parties and; that laws governing prevention of all types
of violence and discrimination against women are enacted, amended and enforced.. With
this in mind, several laws have been identified for possible amendment including but not
limited to the Constitution, the Inheritance Law, Domestic Relations Law, Education law,
Labor Laws and the Hinterland regulation. Other laws are also being introduced for
enactment in keeping with the Liberian National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and 1820.


Women access, use and control over land

The Liberian Constitution currently deals with property ownership under sections 22, 23 and
24. More particularly, section 22 and 23 guarantees that every person shall have the right
to own property alone as well as in association with others; provided that only Liberian
citizens shall have the right to own real property within the Republic and the property
which a person possesses at the time of marriage or which may afterwards be acquired as a
result of ones own labors shall not be held for or otherwise applied to liquidation ..nor
shall the property which by law is to be secured to a man or a woman be alienated or be
controlled by that persons spouse save by free and voluntary consent. On the face of it,
this should guarantee women and men equal rights in property ownership and one can
assume that opportunities and spaces for women to acquire and own property are the same
as men. The reality may be far from this. The Liberia Demographic and Health Survey
(LDHS 2007) results show that the majority of Liberians have little education, with females
much less educated than males, 42% of the women and 18% of men have never attended
any school, and while 19% of men have completed secondary school or higher only 8% of
women have accomplished the same. The stark difference in education levels for men and
women would translate into earning income and property buying power. Further, 37% of
household heads throughout Liberia own property such as land. This proportion is the same
for both urban and rural areas and is slightly higher among males than female heads of
household at 38% and 35% respectively.

As the forces of liberalization take a grip on Liberia, one can assume that more men will
engage in the property market particularly in the urban areas as well as the semi urban.
This is due to the fact that more men than women are educated and have the financial
capacity to do so as compared to women. The Constitution should bring fairness in the
ownership of property and provide for property obtained in a marital relationships as well as
cohabitation relationships. This is to be done in recognition of the different kinds of labor
contributions, services as well as the other various social, economic, and cultural dynamics
that spouses bring to a marital contract.

We will now move the discussion to the Equal Rights of the Customary Marriage under the
Inheritance Law of 1998. The above-mentioned law revolutionized the concept of property
ownership in marriage, devolution of the same upon the death of the spouse and In so
many ways, it is a dream law for women who marry under the customary law. It made
illegal various tribal practices. For example at custom, a woman retains her rights to land if
she remained with her husbands family and a widow who chooses to leave her husbands
family forfeits her access to his house and his familys land and most importantly, leaves
behind her children. Under the Equal Rights of the Customary Marriage Law of 1998,
spouses from traditional marriages can inherit from their husbands estate just as spouses
married under statutory law. This law repeals the customary law position with respect to
distribution of estate and the equal rights of women to property.

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The new law also gives the wives of customary marriages the right to make a last will and
testament disposing of her property, the right to keep the children following the death of
her husband, the right to determine whether to remain in the home or not, the right not to
remain in the family of her deceased husband or to marry a kin after the death of the
husband, the right of entitlement to one-third of the husbands property upon marriage or
upon his death regardless of whether she aided him in acquiring the property or not, while
at the same time, retaining the right to retain her property acquired before or after
marriage and imposing on her no obligation to share such property with him and grants the
wife the right to seek redress in a court of law for any violation of her human or other
rights. Over and above property rights, the law also declares certain customary practices
(such as regarding the wife to be a chattel of the husband and therefore not entitled to
inherit any of his property) invalid. Studies have revealed that the indigenous or rural
women are now expressing concerns about the fact that all of the spouses are entitled to
the same share in the property although some never labor for any of the property. They are
now requesting that the Inheritance Act be reviewed along with the Domestic Relations Law,
the Decedents Estates Law, and the Customary Law to reflect some of their concerns for
better harmonization.


Women and Access to Justice

In order for a law to be effective and serve its intended purpose, an examination of the
justice delivery system is important. Is it accessible? Accessibility in this respect can be
looked at from a number of areas. Are courts paced within reasonable distances to where
people live? If they are not; do the people have resources and finances to get to the courts?
Are court procedures users friendly? Do they use the language of the people who access it?
Women lack of funding is one of the reasons they shun these courts. The procedures and
the structure of the courts can be rigid and slow and therefore discourage and intimidate
even the most enthusiastic litigator particularly if the litigator is a woman. In Liberia, the
judiciary has set up Court E, which is aimed at dealing exclusively with sexual related
offences. This means that all sexual offences cases from Court A, B and C have been
transferred to this court. This court has now been centralized. Unfortunately, what it means
is that it is now choked with business. The cases transferred from other courts to this court
from its inception were many thereby overloading this court like other courts. Further, there
were new cases filed with the court making its overturn very slow. Whilst efforts by this
court to make the wheels of justice mover faster, there is an inherent challenge within the
justice delivery system which makes everything go slow. The main reason for this lag in the
justice system itself and It is our hope that it will improve in the future.


Women Organization

The Ministry of Gender and Development is the arm of Government responsible for Gender
affairs especially women affairs. It is also the regulatory agency of government responsible
for the implementation and regulation of women organizations in Liberia. With the help of
its international partners, the Ministry provides programs and projects for women
organizations and makes sure women issues are brought to the forefront. There are many
women organizations working in the interest of women but the problem are that the
functions of these organizations overlaps and the result is that many women are not
benefiting from the programs designed for them. Few organizations such as the Association
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of Female Lawyers (AFELL), The Liberian Women Initiative (LWI), and Women NGO
Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) amongst a few others are really working in the interest
of women. With respect to the laws, AFELL is the champion of womens rights in Liberia.


Obstacles

The Obstacles faced by many governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations
are many just to name a few: i) the lack of information; ii) lack of logistics; iii) lack of
funding and iv) political and cultural impediment amongst others. Many of these obstacles
can be overcome with the passage of laws and the assistance of international donors and
partners.


Conclusion

With the establishment of the Land Reform Commission and the Law Reform Commission, it
is our hope that women will have greater access to land and that more laws will be
promulgated to the effect. The mandates of the Law Reform Commission and the Land
Reform Commission are wide with women being included. The Law Reform Commission
should lead with the responsibility of reviewing all current bills and taking those bills forward
in consultation with parties who are affected by the bill so that they may provide further
technical advice to the law commission on any bill that they may have conceived.