Gbarnga, Bong County – Advocacy for women land ownership rights and call to empower women in Liberia were some of the topics that dominated a three-day workshop on the first Rural Women Land Rights Conference in Gbarnga. Burphy said the conference was also intended to identify constraints which continue which continue to impede women’s abilities to exercise their land rights. Speaking also, Stanley N. Toe, Executive Director of the Liberia Land Authority, said the conference should be a cause for celebration for the Land Rights Act, which provides for the land ownership rights of communities with customary land including the rights of women and youth, and which also provides for equal benefits for community members from the natural resources on their land, as well as rights to land through marriage, rights to land by birth in the community, and other forms of property rights. At the end of the three-day conference, women of Bomi, Bong, and Grand Gedeh Counties, and representatives from Margibi, Grand Cape Mount, Gbarpolu, Lofa, Nimba, and River Gee Counties said they were honored to be part of the first Rural Women Land Rights Conference. With the theme “Secure Land Rights NOW for Women”, the women said they can strengthen their advocacy and compel power holders and duty bearers to serve them with justice.

Source: Front Page Africa October 29, 2020 04:30 UTC