Children's Peace PrizeLiberian wins for defending victims of violence, rape
"Children in Liberia are silenced, threatened and exposed to violence and injustice - this must change," Keita said.
A Liberian teenager was awarded a
prestigious international prize on Monday for his role in fighting for
justice for child victims of physical and sexual violence in the West African country, where the legacy of wartime rape still lingers.
Abraham Keita was just nine years old when he joined a child-led protest in West Point,
one of the biggest slums in Liberia's capital, to demand justice for a
teenage girl who was sexually abused and brutally murdered by her foster
parents.
He later became a member of the
Children's Parliament, the driving force behind a campaign to enshrine
children's rights to education, healthcare and birth registration in
law. Liberia's 2012 Children's Law has since been hailed as one of the
most comprehensive on the continent by campaigners.
"I
was inspired to do something by the murder of the girl in West Point
and the terrible situation in Liberia for young girls - the victim could
have been my sister or a close friend," said Keita, now 17, who was named the winner of the annual International Children's Peace Prize.
"Winning
this award will give hope to children across Liberia, but a lot more
needs to be done so they can be compared to children in cities like
Amsterdam, Washington and London," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Previous
winners of the prize, launched by the Dutch KidsRights Foundation in
2005, include Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the Nobel
Peace Prize, who was shot in Pakistan in 2012 by the Taliban for
advocating girls' rights to education.
Despite the
passage of the Children's Law in 2012, Keita said that children remain
vulnerable to abuse while many perpetrators go unpunished in a country
where sexual violence is rife and rape is the one of the most frequently
reported crimes.
Up to three-quarters of Liberian
women suffered sexual violence during 14 years of civil war in the
country, while there was a spike in sexual assault and rape at the
height of the Ebola outbreak, campaigners say.
Liberia
launched an anti-rape campaign last year and Keita started his own
movement to push for the prosecution of criminals and compensation for
young victims of sexual violence.
Keita was also
responsible for organising a demonstration last year after the death of
15-year-old Shaki Kamara, who was shot in the legs by armed forces after
protesters had tried to break out of an Ebola quarantine in West Point.
"Children in Liberia are silenced, threatened and exposed to violence and injustice - this must change," Keita said.
"Justice is not for the poor in Liberia ... it is only for the rich. Justice must be given to children."
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