Liberia rejects US human rights report as false, imbalance
The Liberian government has rejected the latest US State Department 2011 report on the dismal human rights situation in Liberia, describing it as imbalance and a misrepresentation of the state of affairs in the country.
In a strongly worded reaction sent to the US embassy in Monrovia, the Liberian government denied that there were politically motivated disappearances and that the Liberian government has made attempts to restrict academic freedom.
This is not the first US State Department Human Rights report that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government has got annoyed over, since Africa’s first elected female president took over in January 2006.
Previous reports have been similar to the current one.
President Sirleaf described the Americans’ 2009 rights report as “erroneous” after it concluded that there was pervasive corruption at 'all levels" of the Liberian government.
At a news conference then, Sirleaf “did not point out the report's "erroneous" aspects, but she said she will personally write US Secretary Hilary Clinton expressing her disapproval of the report,” Liberia’s daily, New Democrat newspaper reported back in 2010.
The US State Department’s 2011 report also spoke of the deplorable conditions of prisons and other detention facilities.
Describing the Americans’ report as false, Liberia’s Justice Minister Chritiana Tah has said the Sirleaf government respects freedom of speech and press, emphasizing that it was the general view of the international community that it conducted a free, fair and transparent election in 2011.
Liberia further said that the US State Department’s report was marred by what it called, obvious instances of misrepresentation regarding arrest, accidental killings and reported cases of murder.
Meanwhile, the Liberian government has called on the US and the International community to join it in supporting the Bureau of Correction, which it considers as the least supported segment of Liberia’s Justice System.
