09 February 2018 – UNMIL Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Political and Rule of Law, Waldemar Vrey, Friday donated two 4WD vehicles to the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL).  DSRSG Vrey said UNMIL was pleased and encouraged with the way that AFELL has structured itself in its advocacy role for women and children and by its continued efforts to ensure that their voices are heard in society.  UNMIL was providing the vehicles to further enhance the work of the female lawyers’ organization because funding is not always readily available.

DSRSG Vrey said that despite UNMIL’s scheduled closure on the 31 March 2018, the Mission has worked very hard to establish with its key partner, UNDP, a joint-programme for the Rule of Law, that is well-designed and is reasonably well-funded.  The programme will focus on Rule of Law Institutions, Gender Objective - how to improve women’s position in the Rule of Law family, how to strengthen Civil Society standing and help strengthen Civil Society to enhance the rule of law further in Liberia, among others. The DSRSG also said “With the new government’s aspirations of wanting to address some key issues and imbalances affecting gender, as well as their quest to change certain important areas of the Liberian constitution, AFELL will have a very important role to play.

“Please don’t step away. I think now is the time for AFELL to step forward and say, ‘let my voice be heard, let me participate in this process, let me be with the Legislature, let me be with those organizations who are participating in these very good initiatives that we are hearing from the government.’ AFELL should have a very important role in all of this. So I encourage you and I even challenge you to see to it that your role in these areas will continue. It is an absolute pleasure to bring you this gift that I hope will be to the advantage of your work that you want to do and also don’t forget to reach out to the counties,” Mr. Vrey admonished.