GoL Unveils Amended Anti-Human Trafficking Law
Cllr. Gibson: “I am hopeful that the information dissemination reaches every nook and cranny and the world at large.”
The National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce has unveiled an amendment to the country's trafficking law.
“A Law is not a law until it is published. It is an enactment when the Legislature passes it,” said Liberia’s Minister of Labor, Cllr. Charles Gibson, who heads the Task Force as its Chairman. “It is an endorsed enactment when the Executive or President signs it, but it becomes a law when it is published.”
According to a Labor Ministry press release, the Minister said that the law has in it a change of balance between civil liability and criminal conviction. He noted that law also included in its restitution for victims for damages incurred as the result of trafficking.
He maintained that under this new law, everything that was used intentionally, knowingly, negligently, and recklessly in the commission of the crime of human trafficking can be auditioned by the court to satisfy restitution to the victim.
Minister Gibson further that the new law means Liberia has one of most stringent laws on human trafficking in the world, as perpetrators get a minimum of twenty (20) jail sentences.
The task-force, according to Cllr. Gibson remains grateful to the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for printing the Law into Handbill.
He disclosed that they had hired the services of ten local civil society groups and set to engage the Press Union of Liberia and other institutions to ensure proper and full dissemination of the law.
Cllr. Gibson is hopeful that the information dissemination reaches every nook and cranny and the world at large, the release said.
Local and international partners at the meeting thanked Minister Gibson for the launch of the Law and have pledged their support to work with the National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce of Liberia to achieve its objectives.
The ceremony was graced by Line Ministries and Agencies, the US Embassy, IDLO, Winrock International, World-Hope, ILO, the Press, the Religious Community as well as Civil Society Groups in the fight against human trafficking in Liberia.