NATIONAL NEWS
NEW YORK – President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has launched Liberia’s Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, reaffirming his administration’s commitment to protecting women, expanding their participation in national leadership and strengthening their role in peacebuilding.
By: Trokon S. Wrepue – trokon1992seokin@gmail.com
President Boakai made the declaration at a Liberia-hosted high-level event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where he reflected on the critical role Liberian women played in ending the country’s civil conflict and building peace.
“Women were not merely involved in our peace processes. Liberian women helped build peace,” President Boakai declared.
The Liberian leader paid tribute to the Women in Peacebuilding Network, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, market women, as well as Christian and Muslim women who crossed religious, ethnic and political lines to demand an end to the war.
“They were not invited to the peace processes; they made themselves impossible to exclude,” President Boakai recalled.
The new plan, known as NAP III, is built around five key areas: prevention; protection and access to justice; participation; relief, recovery and resilience; and coordination, accountability and financing.
According to President Boakai, the plan draws lessons from Liberia’s previous national action plans while responding to emerging threats, including climate pressures, violent extremism, transnational crime, displacement, democratic reversals and economic insecurity.
He also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to increasing women’s representation in elected and appointed positions, as well as within the Armed Forces of Liberia.
President Boakai said his administration is working to achieve 15 percent female representation in the AFL by 2028, as part of a broader national target of 40 percent by 2030.
He stressed that Liberia cannot advocate internationally for greater participation of women in peacebuilding while failing to provide meaningful opportunities for women at home.
As Liberia serves on the United Nations Security Council and prepares to assume the Council’s presidency in December, President Boakai said Women, Peace and Security would remain a major national priority.
Referring to Liberia’s membership on the UN Security Council, President Boakai said, “A seat is an opportunity, not an achievement. What we do with it is the achievement.”
The President pledged the political will, institutional coordination and national resources needed to implement NAP III, while calling on international partners to continue supporting Liberia’s efforts.
He concluded by honoring the women whose courage and determination helped change Liberia’s history before formally launching the country’s Third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
“That is the promise of this Third National Action Plan—to build a Liberia where every woman and girl can live safely, participate fully, lead with dignity, and help shape our country’s future,” President Boakai said.
