The delegation met with 26 members of the NRC Meme Town WISE Women group, who meet each month to discuss and learn about the causes and consequences of sexual violence, as well as develop strategies for advocating for women’s rights within their own communities. The WISE Women and separately WISE Men groups, that now consist of 675 members, is a critical aspect of NRC’s SGBV project.

In 2005 the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 90% of the Liberian female population had experienced sexual or physical violence during the war. Today, SGBV is perpetrated by intimate partners rather than rebels or paramilitaries, but it remains brutal and widespread. Many women and girls have been excluded from the benefits of Liberia’s peace and instead endure a daily fear of being beaten, raped or otherwise abused by men in their communities or families.

The WISE women shared with the delegation their own personal experiences of physical and sexual violence in a way that demonstrated the ‘normality’ and ‘regularity’ of such experiences. The prevalence of violence along with a culture of impunity leaves many Liberian women resigned to a life of violence.