Liberia: Police to integrate STA from medica mondiale into training
Sexualised violence was among the most commonly reported major crimes in Liberia in 2021: rape, female genital mutilation, and various types of discrimination are widespread in the country, which still bears the scars of its civil war. The team at our partner organisation medica Liberia has been advocating for survivors of sexualised violence for many years – and can now chalk up an important milestone.
Yah Parwon signs Memorandum of Understanding with National Police Academy
The Stress- and Trauma-sensitive Approach® (STA) developed by medica mondiale and its partner organisations is to be integrated into police training, as the training will now cover how to interact with people affected by sexualised violence. To this end, medica Liberia Director Yah Parwon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Liberia National Police Training Academy.
“This declaration of the academy’s intent to incorporate the STA and needs of survivors of sexualised violence into the training of police officers can bring about tangible change. Those affected by sexualised violence will now be more likely to benefit from competent prosecution of the crimes committed against them.”
Until now, only employees of the Women and Children Protection Service units (WACPS) were able to take part in specialist training courses on dealing with sexualised violence and the STA. With the Memorandum of Understanding now signed, all police officers will receive training on this topic.
“Expanding this coverage will close the support gap for survivors and ensure that more police officers are able to help those affected.”
Even though the WACPS is now represented in all 15 district capitals, too many women and girls there still have no access to assistance in a country heavily marked by poverty and a lack of infrastructure.
Training of police officers ensures long-term impacts
The work at medica Liberia will now have long-term impacts – this is a significant outcome for the organisation from the commitment to train future police officers in the STA approach and how to deal with people affected by violence. Survivors of sexualised violence will benefit from trauma-sensitive expertise even in places where medica Liberia team is not working locally.
“This allows more officers who encounter survivors of sexualised violence to be trauma-sensitive and provide suitable support.”
As an independent organisation since 2015, medica Liberia has been working closely with medica mondiale to combat sexualised violence. For many years, one focus of the work has been to train employees of state institutions in how to deal with victims of violence in a trauma-sensitive manner. Cooperation with the WACPS units at the Liberian police was already close in recent years.
“We have trained and educated many WACPS officers in trauma sensitivity, with the support of medica mondiale. This meant some women and girls who have experienced violence have been able to benefit from improved support from the police. However, impacts were still fairly limited because participation in the training was limited to staff from those women and girl’s units.”
Trauma-sensitive approach is taken seriously
“We are proud and happy that our colleagues from medica Liberia have succeeded in having the STA and the topic of interacting with people affected by violence included in police training. It is an important step to offer this training to police officers outside of the dedicated special units. This brings with it more hope of achieving justice for more girls and women.”
It remains important to continue efforts to educate local communities about norms which oppress women and girls, and to change these. Accordingly, raising awareness of women’s rights issues among traditional community leaders will still be of great importance.
The agreement signed by Yah Parwon has a particular significance for her and her team: the importance of a trauma-sensitive approach to dealing with people affected by violence is being recognised and taken seriously in Liberia. And this will soon be supported by even more police officers.
