The PBO, with support from its donor partners, has volunteers and peace infrastructures in local communities in all 15 counties who continue to track and report several conflict-sensitivity issues to the PBO’s early warning and early response network (LERN) platform. Some of the key conflict drivers documented from this assessment include:
Food insecurity and livelihoods needs of community: COVID-19 has disrupted normal farming activities, thereby affecting the food value chain system for many rural community dwellers, who depend on subsistence farming as a source of income and livelihoods. Furthermore, access to food and livelihood support remains the major concern and need of ordinary people, and the largest conflict driver and threat to national peace and security. The shortage of Liberia’s staple food – rice – on the local market could spike a nationwide grassroots-based demonstration and protests that could potentially undercut current efforts to contain and eradicate the COVID-19 virus.
Despite the social and economic hardships imposed by COVID-19, the Liberian people continue to show resilience in addressing the prevailing crisis in a way that sustains peace and promotes social cohesion @pboliberia #C19ConflictMonitor
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Economic impact: COVID-19 has induced unbearable suffering on Liberians across all spheres of rural and urban communities, especially unemployed people and those in the informal sector. It has affected cross-border and inter-/intra-county trade and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with rising prices of basic commodities, particularly the staple food of rice, and other products usually imported from other countries. The closure of the borders with neighbouring countries has also significantly affected SMEs and cross-border trade in border communities and counties. The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased unemployment, especially in the private sector. For instance, due to the lockdown and the closure of schools nationwide, private school teachers have not been paid by their respective institutions, thereby subjecting their families to suffering and hardship. Teachers who were interviewed mentioned a planned nationwide protest to demand some assistance from the government and their institutions.
Community hut-spot land disputes as an emerging conflict driver: As stated by local residents and leaders (including women, youth and traditional leaders), community hut-spot land disputes are an emerging conflict issue that occurs frequently between community dwellers and a few elders, who claim to know the history of the land and have customary rights and ownership of communal land. This form of land dispute is taking place in almost all the communities included in the recent assessment, and is gradually building up. It will lead to a wider violent conflict in those communities if a short- to medium-term intervention is not found to address the issue. However, many communities have established community land disputes committees (CLDC) as community-based mediation mechanisms to resolve community land and hut-spot disputes locally. According to these communities, this mechanism has proven effective and successful in resolving community land disputes and other conflicts that could have led to violence or destruction.
Local community leadership and power struggles: Power and leadership issues are loomingin a number of communities in Grand Cape Mount and other counties. According to research conducted in several communities in Grand Cape Mount County, there is an alarming issue relating to community/land ownership among various communities. At times, this has resulted in the destruction of crops and threats to life. In addition, communities have reported rising cases of theft, crime and other violent tendencies, mainly perpetrated among the youth.
Lack/shortage of medical supplies in health facilities: In all counties and communities surveyed, key public and private hospitals or clinics are closed to the public due to COVID-19, and the health facilities currently functioning do not have the necessary medical supplies and equipment for effective service delivery. According to community members and local leaders, medication/drugs are usually procured from drug stores at high cost as the only option to treat their sick family members.
Impact of COVID-19 on the closure of schools: The closure of schools as a measure to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 is having a tremendous impact on students in several communities, including increased teenage pregnancy and early motherhood (particularly in rural communities and counties), child labour, criminal activities and substance use. According to the Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 report, 1 441 567 learners are now not in school, including 509 618 preschoolers, due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The school shutdown is also significantly affecting the cognitive and physical development of preschoolers.
COVID-19 and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV): Due to the lockdown and stay-home measures, more than 600 women and girls have been exposed to rape, sodomisation and other forms of domestic violence, according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. In nearly all the communities visited, local community leaders and members reported a high prevalence of SGBV, rape and other domestic violence cases since the COVID-19 lockdown period. During the focus group discussions in several communities in the five target counties, youth groups, women, teachers, justice and security sector actors and local leaders stated that there are rampant cases of rape and domestic violence in their communities and counties, many of which go unreported. It is important to note that during this lockdown period, women and girls with abusive partners or parents/guardians are forced to stay home, thereby exposing them to daily abuse. Furthermore, local community members and leaders mentioned that cases of persistent non-support and child abandonment are high and on the increase in local communities.
Ineffective SGBV response mechanisms at local and national levels: Institutions for response and protection services are weak and ineffective in adequately providing justice and protection services for victims/survivors of SGBV and domestic violence. Most cases have been reported by the PBO’s Early Warning Early Response (EWER) volunteers to the LERN platform and to the relevant local law enforcement institutions. However, not much has been done during the lockdown period to ensure justice and protection for survivors of rape and other forms of violence against women and girls across the country.
The ongoing tracking of developments across the country by the PBO has also revealed that the government has had limited success in its efforts to involve and increase local community participation in the collective fight against COVID-19. This has negatively impacted on some of the existing structures that could have been central in efforts to contain COVID-19. For instance, community watch forums (CWFs) were established many years ago as a community policing mechanism to improve the relationship between communities and the police, as well as to work collectively with local communities in identifying crimes/conflict, mediating and reporting crimes to the Liberia National Police. Nearly every community in Liberia has a CWF structure, but these structures and their members have consistently suffered from lack of institutional and operational support from the government and donor partners. In the context of COVID-19, the National Secretariat of CWF closed down its local and community operations across the country due to a lack of financial and logistical support. This closure has resulted in a significant increase in crimes, theft and violence in local communities, mainly perpetrated by the youth.
However, despite the undue social and economic hardships imposed by COVID-19 on ordinary Liberians across the country – particularly those in the informal sector and living in rural, slum and marginalised communities – the Liberian people continue to show resilience in addressing the prevailing crisis in a way that sustains peace and promotes social cohesion and socio-cultural/religious interdependencies.
Edward K. Mulbah is the national executive director for the Liberia Peacebuilding Office, located within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a focal point for the development of the Liberia Peacebuilding Plan, responsive to UN Security Council resolution 2333 (2016). Prior to assuming this position, he served as senior advisor to the government on peacebuilding and reconciliation for five years. He is a respected figure within the Liberian civil society sector as the individual who established the first civil society organisation in Liberia working on peacebuilding, in 1998.