Geneva – Liberia’s award-winning children’s rights advocate, Abraham M. Keita has asserted that there are murderers in the current Government of Liberia, making it difficult for him and other rights activists to easily succeed in getting justice for war crimes and crimes perpetrated against children in the country.
The winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize award in 2015, Kieta, speaking on 28 September, at the Day of General Discussion during the UN 79th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, called on the world body and its organs to join in on the incessant calls being made by Liberians both at home and abroad for the establishment of a war crimes court for Liberia.
He says in the discharge of his advocacy job for children back home, his life is under threat on a daily basis, from those he described as remorseless killers.
“In my country, I face threats every single day. I speak against injustices carried out by remorseless adults, individuals who killed thousands of people during the war; they are warlords; they are in our National Legislature, in our Executive, and in the Judiciary,” Kieta told the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Howbeit, he vowed, “But I cannot give up, and we will not give in. That is why I support and join calls for the establishment of a war crimes court in Liberia. It’s dangerous since the very murderers are in government, but we are not afraid.”
He told the Committee, which had for the 79th Session, “protecting and empowering children as human rights defenders”, as its focus, now was the time the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child turns its attention to probing crimes committed against children including war crimes.
“I want to urge this committee of child rights experts, drawn from all corners of the globe, to begin to intervene in war crimes that involve children, Kieta pleaded, adding, “In recent months, activists and civil society organizations in my country, Liberia, have stressed the need for a court to prosecute warlords and all other persons who participated in or supported the 14 years civil war.”
He then pleaded with other young human rights defenders involved with advocating for the rights of children around the globe to overcome threats and fear, and face what he referred to as the winds of political repression.
“As you stand up for your human rights, as you stand up for people, for yourself, you must bear in mind that it is not going to be easy, but just as it will not be easy, you should not give up. Let fear not be in our dictionary, in our books,” he said.
Kieta who added that around the world children continue to be killed and hurt, was quick in sounding a caveat that: “we don’t need more statistics, we need actions! How can we fail the children in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan?”
“To the adults sitting here, to the adults, world leaders, currently attending the UN General Assembly in New York, we the young people, are saying – enough! Children have had enough,” Kieta warned.
Abraham M. Keita, in 2015, won the International Children’s Peace Prize, when he was 17-year-old. He won the prize for his courageous fight for justice for children who have become victims of violence.The prize was presented to him by Liberian Nobel Laureate, Leymah Lauretta Gbowee.
Keita was born during Liberia’s brutal civil war. His father, a driver for a humanitarian organization, was killed in an ambush when the lad was only five years old.
He grew up in extreme poverty with his mother and siblings in West Point, the largest slum of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
