By Tamasin Ford and Tecee Boley* Assistant Commissioner Bennetta
Holder Warner sits behind her small brown desk covered with
books and paper-filled manila folders papers. Her crisp black
uniform shines as if it was just made. The Liberian lady is the
head of the Women and children Protection Section, a position
and unit that did not exist five years ago. “In the past there
was no such place where women or a child could go and carry a
complaint and get redress,” says the Commissioner. “After the
war, women and children being the most vulnerable group, it was
decided that this section be established specifically for their
complaints.” Fourteen years of civil war in the West African
state of Liberia saw some of the worst atrocities women and
children have ever experienced on the African continent. More
than 60 percent of women say they were raped, according to the
United Nations Mission in Liberia. Many were used as sex slaves.
Some were taken to war zones to have sex with children for
ritualistic purposes, whil