Out-of-court settlements and sexual violence against children in Nimba County, rural Liberia

The study brings to light the mixed consequences of using out-of-court settlements to informally resolve allegations of sexual violence against children (SVC), specifically girls. Out-of-court settlements compensate child survivors, without requiring children to testify in court, and sometimes give their families ‘closure’. However, this research paper also examines how for cases of SVC, out-of-court settlements (OCS) can undermine “…the expressive and deterrent effects of criminal sanctions” in relation to sexual crimes (Hubbard, 1999: 12). In most cases in rural Liberia, allegations of SVC are not taken to court. Most are settled customarily, outside formal judicial systems. Perpetrators’ families pay settlement money, which can be used for medical care and possible relocation of the family. Yet perpetrators themselves are not charged, tried or imprisoned. They may not be held personally accountable for their crimes at all. The study asks to what extent out-of-court settlements can be considered in the ‘best interest of the child’, and respecting children’s rights to participation and agency. The study also examines the diverse ways in which people in the rural communities interpret and understand the legal consciousness of the law. Concepts of legal consciousness and legal mobilization are used to interpret a range of evidence from interviews with concerned professionals and survivors of SVC, including two focus group discussions with survivors of SVC (aged 18-21). It is found that OCSs mean police investigations are usually halted. The payments of OCSs are seen as benefiting survivors and their families, but survivors not perpetrators usually have to relocate. This study finds various factors that encourage survivors and their families to agree to OCS, one being poverty. The study examines that OCS, customary settlements are used mainly because in rural areas the formal justice system does not work well. The study unpacks uses and misuse of OCS in SVC cases in Nimba County, rural Liberia.