--Carter Center explains
The Carter Center Liberia says actual and perceived lack of accountability and independence of the judiciary are among the major factors that continue to entrench distrust in the judicial system here.
Speaking over the weekend in Monrovia, Carter Center Liberia Country Representative Mr. James Dorbor Jallah said limited access to justice, and citizens' lack of information about their roles are also factors that have entrenched distrust in the judicial system.
Mr. Jallah explained that Carter Center has a program in the rule of law, democratic governance, and mental health areas.
With those three programs, he disclosed that they have observed issues that are very critical to Liberia and need serious and urgent attention.
Under the Carter Center rule of law program, he said they have been working in more than five hundred communities in eight counties.
He said the work has been ongoing for the past decade and a half, and citizens have raised issues that continue to cause distrust in the judicial system.
"We have worked both to strengthen the customary justice system as well as the statutory justice system," said Mr, Jallah.
He noted that some of the issues continue come to relate to the general system of justice in the country.
Three key issues among them, he said, are actual, and perceived lack of accountability, and independence of the judiciary.
Another is that access to justice is very limited by the limited infrastructure to dispense justice.
Finally, he said the lack of information on the part of citizens about judicial services, is part of the issues raised.
Mr. Jallah said the lack of information on the working of the judicial system is still a big problem because people still don't know what the role of the police is.
He also said people do not know what their rights are and how they can leverage the services to them despite difficulties with getting them.
"These are the issues that continue to entrench the distrust in the judicial system of Liberia, and this has also limited the desire of the population to utilize the judicial service where they were made available," he continued.
"I know now that the government is doing quite a lot to modernize our courts and place them to strategic locations ... however, there are lots to be done," he said.
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He indicated that there are many communities where access to police will either cause like six months' wages for the household or will be far away that people who are in distress and need of those services will not necessarily get them.
Mr. Jallah said the Carter Center in partnership with the Liberia National Bar Association with funding from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, is providing pro bono service for Liberians across the country.
He said Carter Center is concerned about the 2023 elections because, during this time, brothers and sisters, and Liberians generally will start to see themselves as enemies.
He stressed that political campaigns will also culminate into legal actions.
Speaking on the mental health sector of Liberia, he described the sector as an area that is mostly forgotten about.
The Carter Center Country Representative stated that mental health is a human rights issue, adding that it's enshrined in the Public Health Law of Liberia and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
He disclosed that the Liberia Mental Health Act was passed in January 2017 and published in July 2017, but it's yet to be enforced.
"There is an important need to implement the enforcement of the Mental Health Law by developing the required regulations and making the necessary appointment of competent actors to deliver quality service and represent persons in need," he recommended.
