The United States Department of State has released the 2021 Human Rights Report detailing the status of human rights and worker rights in 198 countries and territories including Liberia.
Highlight of the report cataloged human rights abuses by members of the security forces, said significant human rights issues including arbitrary killings by police; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by police; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on freedom of the press, including violence, intimidation and threats against journalists resulting in self-censorship,
The report said unjustified arrests of journalists; serious government corruption; lack of investigation and accountability for gender-based violence, including child, early and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting; trafficking in persons; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons; the existence or use of laws, criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults; and existence of the worst forms of child labor.
The report further noted impunity continued for individuals who committed human rights abuses, including atrocities during the two Liberian civil wars, as multiple investigative and audit reports were ignored. The government made intermittent but limited attempts to investigate and prosecute officials accused of current abuses, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government. Impunity continued for government corruption.
Click link to read the entire report
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