-On the International Day of the Girl Child, Liberia Lags Behind
By Jerromie S. Walters
MONROVIA — The world marked the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 under the theme “End child marriage and invest in girls’ rights,” but Liberia stands at a precipice. The nation’s legal protections for girls have collapsed, its rates of sexual violence against adolescents have reached catastrophic levels, and its commitment to ending harmful traditional practices has faltered — all while regional neighbors have forged ahead with concrete legislative action.
UNFPA reported in September 2026 that 91 percent of all recorded female rape survivors in Liberia over a five-year period were girls between the ages of 10 and 19. Sixty-one percent were children between 10 and 14 years old. Only 47 percent of survivors reached a health facility within the critical 72-hour window after an assault, just 31 percent received HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, and only 26 percent received emergency contraception.
To understand how badly Liberia is failing its girls, it helps to look at what its neighbors are doing. Sierra Leone, which shares a border with Liberia and faces many of the same challenges, passed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in July 2024, banning marriage for anyone under 18.
The country also launched a National Strategy for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Marriage for 2025–2030. UNFPA Sierra Leone reintegrated 2,500 out-of-school girls — including teenage mothers — back into formal schooling in 2025 alone, bringing the cumulative total to 10,000 since 2022.
Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the Sahel with far fewer resources than Liberia, has prosecuted 223 FGM cases between 2009 and 2015, resulting in the conviction of 384 people, including 31 excisers. The country established a free, 24-hour hotline for anonymous reporting of FGM, forced marriage, and gender-based violence.
Senegal has brought eight FGM cases to court, resulting in convictions with prison sentences of three to six months. These are not wealthy nations. They are countries that made political choices to prioritize their girls.
Liberia’s FGM Crisis: No Law, No Protection
In Liberia, female genital mutilation remains legal. The country is one of only a handful in West Africa without a statutory ban. The executive ban on traditional bush schools, has expired on but the government of President Joseph Boakai has signaled no urgency to convert the temporary measure into permanent legislation.
Internal Affairs Minister Francis Sakila Nyumalin announced plans to lift restrictions entirely, declaring the administration “would not abandon the nation’s culture and traditions.”
The Women and Girls Protection Act, drafted to permanently outlaw both FGM and child marriage, is stalled in the Hoise if Representatives. Liberia’s Gender Minister, Gbeme Horace-Kollie, told the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2026 that the bill “will outlaw these practices, including FGM”. But nine months later, that promise has not translated into law.
Traditionalist lawmakers have blocked its passage. During one debate, a representative asked: “Why can’t they call homosexuals, transgender people, and tattoos harmful — instead of our culture?”
While national prevalence rates remain at around 32 percent, FGM hotspots are concentrated in the North and West of the country, where almost 80 percent of women and girls are cut. The practice is driven by the Sande Bush — a secret women’s society that considers FGM a rite of passage into womanhood.
Child Marriage: Law Without Enforcement
Liberia’s Domestic Relations Law sets the minimum age of marriage at 18. But it also permits marriage from age 16 with parental or judicial consent — a loophole that leaves girls vulnerable.
In practice, one in four Liberian girls is married before age 18, and roughly 6 percent are married before age 15. The practice is heavily skewed by geography and poverty. In rural areas, 39 percent of girls are married before adulthood, compared to 18 percent in urban centers. Girls from Liberia’s poorest households are nearly four times more likely to be married off than those in the wealthiest quintile.
Education is the strongest protective factor. Among girls with no formal schooling, 46 percent are married before 18. Among those with secondary education or higher, that figure drops to 15 percent.
The Independent National Commission on Human Rights of Liberia has warned that “unless practical steps are taken, the protection of girls against early and forced marriage remains a mere legislation.” Poverty, insecurity, and traditional beliefs are the primary drivers. Child brides face heightened risks of HIV infection, domestic violence, and death in childbirth.
One-third of Liberian girls aged 15 to 19 have begun childbearing, either through a current pregnancy or a previous birth. Pregnancy is a primary driver of school dropout. A September 2026 report revealed that while Liberian girls now enroll in school at near parity with boys, about 36.4 percent drop out. Nearly 42 percent of primary-school-age girls do not complete sixth grade.
The Ministry of Education acknowledged to reporters that it has no statistics on how many girls leave school because of poverty, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, or unsafe schools. It said those causes are “interconnected” and that it is strengthening monitoring “so dropout can increasingly be understood by county, grade, sex, age, and documented reason.”
A 2026 Afrobarometer survey found that 78 percent of Liberians believe women should decide for themselves whether and when to marry, and more than three-fourths support allowing pregnant pupils to continue their education.
Violence: The Most Brutal Indicator
The scale of sexual violence against Liberian girls is almost incomprehensible. The UNFPA data showing 91 percent of rape survivors are adolescents is not an anomaly — it reflects a systemic failure to protect children.
Financial barriers compound the trauma. Despite national policies providing free medical care for gender-based violence survivors, many public health facilities impose user fees because inadequate government financing leaves them struggling to cover operational costs. As UNFPA Officer-in-Charge Leonard Kamugisha put it: “When a survivor of gender-based violence summons the courage to break the silence, flee an abusive home, or seek medical attention at a public health facility, the first thing they encounter should not be a registration desk demanding a service fee.”
What Sierra Leone Shows Is Possible
Sierra Leone offers a clear example of what political will can achieve — and where gaps remain. The country’s Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024 was a landmark step. UNFPA reintegrated 2,500 out-of-school girls in 2025, including teenage mothers. The National Strategy for the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Marriage (2025–2030) provides a comprehensive framework.
Community by-laws on marriage practices were introduced, with chiefdoms establishing marriage age verification requirements. Traditional and religious leaders were engaged, with 13,173 local officials, chiefs, and religious stakeholders participating in identifying and addressing issues affecting adolescent girls.
The number of adolescents aged 15–19 who are pregnant or have had a child reduced from 28 percent to 21 percent, according to MSI Sierra Leone. But Sierra Leone also shows how difficult this work is. FGM remains legal there too, with 83 percent of girls and women aged 15–49 having undergone the procedure. Three girls aged 12, 13, and 17 died after FGM in January 2024.
The Child Rights Act 2025 was passed, but the African Committee of Experts expressed concern that a provision explicitly prohibiting FGM was removed from the first reading.
Sierra Leone is far from perfect. But it is moving forward. Liberia is not.
The most damning indictment of Liberia’s leadership is that the public is far ahead of its politicians. The 2026 Afrobarometer survey found that majorities support access to contraceptives and believe abortion should be available in cases of rape, incest, or threats to maternal health.
On October 11, as the world observed the International Day of the Girl Child, Liberia’s girls have still not benefited from new laws, or new protections. They woke up in a country where FGM is legally permitted, where child marriage persists with impunity, where rape survivors are charged for medical care they cannot afford, and where one in three girls becomes a mother before adulthood.
