UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN LIBERIA (UNMIL)
http://www.unmil.org/index.asp
The data given in this source description focus on the work of the UNMIL Human Rights and Protection Section (HRPS) and its publications.
Mission/Mandate:
The mandate of the Human Rights and Protection Section (HRPS) is “to contribute towards international efforts to protect and promote human rights in Liberia, with particular attention to vulnerable groups including refugees, returning refugees and internally displaced persons, women, children, and demobilised child soldiers, within UNMIL’s capabilities and under acceptable security conditions, in close cooperation with other United Nations agencies, related organisations, governmental organisations, and non-governmental organisations“; and “to ensure an adequate human rights presence, capacity and expertise within UNMIL to carry out human rights promotion, protection and monitoring activities.“ (UNMIL Website, http://www.unmil.org/content.asp?ccat=mandate, accessed on 24 April 2008)
The UNMIL headquarters are in Monrovia, Liberia.
Target group:
Liberian people; Liberian government; Liberian and international media; humanitarian community; public.
Objective:
The HRPS is responsible for the monitoring and reporting on human rights violations in all 15 Liberian counties. HRPS’s objective is the “promotion and protection of human rights under the UNMIL mandate“ (UNMIL Website, http://www.unmil.org/content.asp?ccat=humanrights, accessed on 24 April 2008).
Funding:
As one of the UN peacekeeping operations, UNMIL is financed by the UN budget in the form of “assessments in respect of a Special Account”. Its budget is being approved for one a year period (UN Website, http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmil/facts.html, accessed on 24 April 2008).
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: Liberia.
Thematic focus: HRPS: Political, social and security developments; children’s rights (right to education, violence against children, orphanages); impunity and human rights violations in judicial, corrections and law enforcement systems; human rights in prisons and places of detention (poor conditions, torture); rape, sexual and gender based violence; juvenile justice; freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights; harmful traditional practices; human rights conditions in rubber plantations (UNMIL Website, http://www.unmil.org/content.asp?ccat=humanrights, accessed on 18 July 2008).
Reporting methodology:
Reports on the human rights situation in Liberia are produced by UNMIL’s Human Rights and Protection Section (HRPS).
Information collected in UNMIL’s human rights reports is collected by Human Rights Officers (HROs), then cross-checked with reports prepared by other UNMIL components and also shared with the UNMIL Office of the Gender Advisor, the Legal and Judicial System Support Division and the Corrections Advisory Unit. The draft report is transmitted to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, the Minister of Justice (in some cases also to other ministries, such as the Minister of Education, the Minister of Gender and Development and the Minister of Health and Social Welfare) for their comments prior to its public release. Reports also showed shared with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) prior to release. Responses received are examined and, where appropriate, incorporated in the report.
Reports contain also recommendations related to the concerns raised and aimed to strengthen human rights protection for Liberians.
HROs of the HRPS monitor the situation in all of Liberia’s 15 counties. Reports on the human rights situation provide a summary of the key issues reported by HROs during the reporting period (see various reports on the human rights situation in Liberia on the UNMIL Website, http://www.unmil.org/content.asp?ccat=humanrights, accessed on 24 April 2008).
Publication cycle:
Reports on the human rights situation in Liberia are published in regular intervals.
Language:
English.
Navigation of website:
Operations - Human Rights: Reports on the human rights situation in Liberia.
Additional references:
