wfn.org | McVilla fights for her rights

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Note #6162 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-August-2000
00301

McVilla fights for her rights

Ecumenical delegation travels to Liberia in show of support

by Karin Achtelstetter
World Council of Churches News and Information Office

MONROVIA, Liberia— McVilla, a 24-year old teacher, is visiting her friend
Cassandra.  They chat and laugh, exchanging gossip, "Can you imagine . . .
Have you heard . . ."  An ordinary afternoon in her friend's house.  But a
few hours later McVilla finds herself in hospital with serious internal
injuries.
	The afternoon of March 19, 2000, turns into a nightmare, for McVilla is
raped in her friend's house.  Her aggressors are Benjamin, a relative of
Cassandra's, and his friend Daniel.
	The McVilla case is making legal history in Liberia.  It is the first time
a woman rape victim has brought charges and started legal proceedings
against her aggressors.  McVilla speaks at press conferences about what was
done to her in her friend's house. She names the rapists publicly by name. 
She displays medical reports.
	McVilla is not alone in her fight for justice. She has the support of the
Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL). And for a few days this
summer, her cause was joined by a an ecumenical delegation partially
sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC) that included Ashley Seaman
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
	Five women — representing the WCC, the World YWCA, the All Africa
Conference of
Churches and the Lutheran World Federation— went to Liberia to find out
about the situation of women and children in the country after its civil
war.
	Their visit helped prepare for the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence, a
program created by the eighth assembly in December 1998 to "work
strategically with the churches ... to create a culture of non-violence."
The Decade, which will be officially launched world-wide in February 2001,
will build on already existing initiatives around the world, and will offer
a forum for sharing experiences and establishing relationships so as to
learn from one another.
	"When one woman suffers, all women suffer," says Elizabeth J. Boyenneh, the
president of AFELL. "Violence against women continues to be widespread in
Liberia, and up till now the perpetrators have got away with it.  We live in
a culture of silence and concealment.  Because of the norms and values
prevailing in our society the victims are ashamed to take action against
their violators."
	The McVilla case was attracting huge public attention when the five-member
international ecumenical delegation of women made their solidarity visit to
Liberia. Boyenneh believes the case is far from over.  The Grand Jury, when
called to decide whether the McVilla case should go to court, rejected the
application.  In September AFELL intends to submit the case to the Jury for
the second time.
	For Boyenneh, the visit of the international ecumenical delegation of women
came at just the right time because AFELL is aiming for international
support in its fight against rape.  A website on the McVilla case is in
preparation. Only if McVilla is given a fair chance in a court of law,
Boyenneh says, will other women and girls who have been raped dare to break
their silence.
	Sexual violence against women and girls is only one aspect of AFELL's work.
Under the slogan "Equal Rights for All," this association of women lawyers,
founded as a non-governmental organization in 1994, works to defend Liberian
women's and children's rights in general.
	Members of the international ecumenical team included H l ne Yinda of the
World YWCA in Geneva; Achtelstetter; Jessica Babihuga Nkuuhe from Uganda;
Lillian Chirombe from Zimbabwe; and Seaman.

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