Alleged child rapists are paying their way out of jail while court officials and police officers demand bribes and kickbacks from the families of child rape victims who want to see their attackers arrested and prosecuted, according to a UN report.

The bribes could be as little as US $6, but that's enough to deny many impoverished Liberians access to justice, said a bi-monthly report from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

The restoration of rule of law is a pillar of the country’s post-conflict recovery and it is being undermined by graft, said UNMIL.

“Corruption in the judiciary remained a challenge to guaranteeing equal access to justice and equality under the law. Numerous cases were reported in which corrupt practices of judicial officials undermined the rule of law,” the report said under a special section on human rights.

Representatives of the Liberian judiciary contacted by IRIN declined to immediately comment on the report findings.

A peace deal two years ago ended 14 years of civil war in Liberia. Rape and sexual violence were common tools of warfare by the ragtag fighters, many of whom were pumped up on drugs and alcohol by their commanders.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman president, has promised to come down hard on rapists and end the cycle of sexual violence. Last December, a law was passed making rape illegal for the first time in Liberia – previously only gang rape was considered a crime.

Liberia’s northern Lofa county is the destination for a large number of returning Liberian refugees and internally displaced. But corruption threatens to undermine promises of restored security and respect for rule of law.

“In March 2006, the Voinjama Magistrate, Lofa County, reportedly charged the father of a nine-year-old alleged rape victim L $300 (US $6) to detain the suspect pending trial. The Magistrate claimed that the fee was to cover the cost of transporting the suspect to the detention cell,” the report said. "It was later learned that the sheriff of the circuit court also asked for L $350 (US $7) to arrest the suspect,” the UNMIL report said.

UNMIL also found instances of accused rapists bribing their way out of jail.

“A man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in Maryland County in December 2005, and arrested on 5 January 2006, claimed that he was released by a court order on 30 January 2006, after he paid L $3,000 (US $60) to the alleged victim’s uncle, a justice of the peace. He was subsequently rearrested on 12 April 2006 and is currently detained in Harper Prison, pending trial,” the report noted.

Police officers are also taking bribes, said the report, citing a case in Unification Town, some 40 km from the capital Monrovia:

“In March 2006, Police in Unification Town Depot, Margibi County, reportedly asked the parents of an 11-year-old rape victim to pay L $750 (US $15) in order to facilitate the arrest of a suspect. The girl reportedly suffered severe medical problems as a result of the rape. The suspect had not been apprehended at the time of writing,” the UNMIL report said.

And in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, 35 km from Monrovia, the county’s chief prosecutor was implicated in the dubious acquittal of an alleged rapist.

But local anti-rape campaigner, Medina Scott, told IRIN that poverty was just as much to blame for many rape cases failing to reach court.

“We always received reports of rape, but when we pushed for prosecution, the victims’ families would receive money from the perpetrators….This is happening everywhere in Liberia,” Scott told IRIN.

Under Liberia’s new rape laws, rapists can be sentenced to between 10 years and life imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the case. Accused rapists are not granted bail.

Since the passage of the new rape law only one person – a 42-year-old man – has been found guilty and sentenced for the rape of a nine year old girl. He is serving a life sentence in a Monrovia prison.