Monrovia, Liberia – In an effort to give Liberian youth access to justice, Prison Fellowship Liberia, with assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has formally begun an initiative to gather their voices.
The initiative, code-named “Collecting the Voices of Liberian Youths to Access Justice,” would allow the PFL to collaborate with the Ministry of Justice in gathering data from young people in order to offer them legal assistance, according to the fellowship’s Country Director, Reverend Francis Kollie.
Reverend Kollie was interviewed by this station just after the conclusion of the two-day human rights monitors’ and record-keepers’ training on monitoring and record-keeping in Gbarnga, Bong County, on Friday.
The PFL Country Director expressed gratitude to the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights for funding the monitoring and records management training session for human rights defenders.
He said that the large number of young people detained in jails around the nation without legal counsel is one of the issues Liberia is now dealing with. He said, “without having access to lawyers or legal aid providers, some have been in detention for weeks, some for months, and some for many years.”
“The main goal of this training is to gather the opinions of young people who are detained so that the PFL can collaborate with the Justice Ministry. This will allow them to provide their names, determine the reason for their detention, and discuss how to obtain legal representation. We hope to collaborate with the Justice Ministry’s Bureau of Corrections to deploy monitors to gather that information so that we can provide legal assistance or mediate the case after the training.”
According to Reverend Kollie, the project in the theme: “Enhancing and Protecting Civic Space and People’s Participation,” will also seek avenue through which where some of the youths behind bars will seek the possibility of harmonizing the cases with the complainants under the conflict resolution mechanism.
Reported by: Prince Saah
Contact: +231778239813
Email: saahprince119@gmail.com
