{"id": "DISC-0073", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "source_id": "SRC-0087", "year": "2015", "date_precision": "year", "disclosure_method": "investigative_report", "extent": "summary", "coverage": "Secrecy, coercion and documented cases; monitors did not observe all rites.", "review_status": "reviewed", "notes": "The date identifies this source or publication, not necessarily the first public disclosure of the material.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "source": {"id": "SRC-0087", "title": "An Assessment of Human Rights Issues Emanating from Traditional Practices in Liberia", "author": "United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL); Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)", "original_year": "2015", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "report", "url": "https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/LR/HarmfulTraditionalPracticesLiberia.pdf", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Downloaded the official PDF on 2026-11-04 and inspected printed pp. 3–4, 15–19 and 23. The OHCHR and UNMIL-hosted copies have identical SHA-256 hashes; they are copies of one report, not independent evidence. Paragraph 13 describes restricted access and likely under-reporting.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "sha256:67dae5aeb287a7a069113b2a519c9029c34ebf24ea8a070093e46979c42c42b7", "notes": "Published December 2015; reporting period January 2012–September 2015. Exact-copy hash is of the retrieved PDF; no public archival capture is asserted.", "artifacts": []}, "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0087", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}], "claims": [{"id": "CLM-0115", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "content", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "The UN report describes FGM as a required component of Sande initiation in the Liberian regions it covers.", "period": "2012–2015", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0087", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0087: p. 4, para. 15", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "Checked against the specified passage on 2026-11-04. One evidentiary origin is recorded; no independent corroboration is claimed.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0087", "title": "An Assessment of Human Rights Issues Emanating from Traditional Practices in Liberia", "author": "United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL); Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)", "original_year": "2015", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "report", "url": "https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/LR/HarmfulTraditionalPracticesLiberia.pdf", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Downloaded the official PDF on 2026-11-04 and inspected printed pp. 3–4, 15–19 and 23. The OHCHR and UNMIL-hosted copies have identical SHA-256 hashes; they are copies of one report, not independent evidence. Paragraph 13 describes restricted access and likely under-reporting.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "sha256:67dae5aeb287a7a069113b2a519c9029c34ebf24ea8a070093e46979c42c42b7", "notes": "Published December 2015; reporting period January 2012–September 2015. Exact-copy hash is of the retrieved PDF; no public archival capture is asserted.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0087", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0116", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "historical_practice", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "HRPS documented seven forced or attempted adult Sande initiations involving eleven women; at least five cases used FGM as threat or punishment.", "period": "2012–2015", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0087", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0087: p. 17, para. 63", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "Checked the report’s stated case count and examples. This is a documented-case count, not a prevalence estimate or a count of convictions.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0087", "title": "An Assessment of Human Rights Issues Emanating from Traditional Practices in Liberia", "author": "United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL); Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)", "original_year": "2015", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "report", "url": "https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/LR/HarmfulTraditionalPracticesLiberia.pdf", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Downloaded the official PDF on 2026-11-04 and inspected printed pp. 3–4, 15–19 and 23. The OHCHR and UNMIL-hosted copies have identical SHA-256 hashes; they are copies of one report, not independent evidence. Paragraph 13 describes restricted access and likely under-reporting.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "sha256:67dae5aeb287a7a069113b2a519c9029c34ebf24ea8a070093e46979c42c42b7", "notes": "Published December 2015; reporting period January 2012–September 2015. Exact-copy hash is of the retrieved PDF; no public archival capture is asserted.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0087", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0117", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "other", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "The report describes severe punishment, including killing, for divulging Sande or Poro secrets; monitors consequently could observe only some practices.", "period": "2012–2015", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0087", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0087: pp. 3–4, paras. 13 and 18", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "The source explicitly limits its own access. This records reported enforcement and observation limits, not proof that all members enforce secrecy violently.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0087", "title": "An Assessment of Human Rights Issues Emanating from Traditional Practices in Liberia", "author": "United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL); Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)", "original_year": "2015", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "report", "url": "https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/LR/HarmfulTraditionalPracticesLiberia.pdf", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Downloaded the official PDF on 2026-11-04 and inspected printed pp. 3–4, 15–19 and 23. The OHCHR and UNMIL-hosted copies have identical SHA-256 hashes; they are copies of one report, not independent evidence. Paragraph 13 describes restricted access and likely under-reporting.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "sha256:67dae5aeb287a7a069113b2a519c9029c34ebf24ea8a070093e46979c42c42b7", "notes": "Published December 2015; reporting period January 2012–September 2015. Exact-copy hash is of the retrieved PDF; no public archival capture is asserted.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0087", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0120", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "historical_practice", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "OHCHR reports a fifteen-year-old girl’s abduction into Sande in September 2021; she underwent FGM before her mother retrieved her in November.", "period": "September–November 2021", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0088", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0088: opening account and paragraphs before “FGM is a human rights issue”", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "Checked the published mother’s account. This record does not identify the child and does not claim an independent criminal adjudication of the incident.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0088", "title": "Liberian Mother Calls for End to Forced Initiations and Secret Harmful Practices", "author": "OHCHR; United Nations in Liberia", "original_year": "2021", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "testimony", "url": "https://liberia.un.org/en/160720-liberian-mother-calls-end-forced-initiations-and-secret-harmful-practices", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Read the OHCHR-credited story on the official UN country site on 2026-11-04. It publishes a named former initiate’s account and UN staff comments. Publication identity is verified; the interview is not independent verification of every underlying event.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "", "notes": "29 November 2021. Child victims are not named in the dataset.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_without_content_hash", "message": "No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead."}, {"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0121", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "other", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "The interviewed mother, herself a Sande initiate, described fear of retaliation as keeping other parents from speaking publicly.", "period": "2021", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0088", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0088: opening testimony and paragraph beginning “People are not supposed”", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "Checked against the specified passage on 2026-11-04. One evidentiary origin is recorded; no independent corroboration is claimed.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0088", "title": "Liberian Mother Calls for End to Forced Initiations and Secret Harmful Practices", "author": "OHCHR; United Nations in Liberia", "original_year": "2021", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "testimony", "url": "https://liberia.un.org/en/160720-liberian-mother-calls-end-forced-initiations-and-secret-harmful-practices", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Read the OHCHR-credited story on the official UN country site on 2026-11-04. It publishes a named former initiate’s account and UN staff comments. Publication identity is verified; the interview is not independent verification of every underlying event.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "", "notes": "29 November 2021. Child victims are not named in the dataset.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_without_content_hash", "message": "No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead."}, {"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0122", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "historical_practice", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "The mother said practitioners demanded payments for abducted children’s upkeep and up to US$45 per child for release.", "period": "2021", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0088", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0088: paragraph beginning “Indeed, she says”", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "An attributed demand reported in an interview, not a finding that every Sande school operates this way.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0088", "title": "Liberian Mother Calls for End to Forced Initiations and Secret Harmful Practices", "author": "OHCHR; United Nations in Liberia", "original_year": "2021", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "testimony", "url": "https://liberia.un.org/en/160720-liberian-mother-calls-end-forced-initiations-and-secret-harmful-practices", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Read the OHCHR-credited story on the official UN country site on 2026-11-04. It publishes a named former initiate’s account and UN staff comments. Publication identity is verified; the interview is not independent verification of every underlying event.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "", "notes": "29 November 2021. Child victims are not named in the dataset.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_without_content_hash", "message": "No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead."}, {"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}, {"id": "CLM-0124", "item_id": "ITEM-0040", "claim_type": "other", "suppression_method": "", "statement": "The mother reported that Sande representatives on Liberia’s traditional council said her daughter’s abduction was not part of the culture.", "period": "2021", "claim_support": "single_source", "supporting_source_ids": "SRC-0088", "independent_source_ids": "", "contradicting_source_ids": "", "locators": "SRC-0088: paragraph beginning “Parker has told her story”", "review_status": "reviewed", "verification_notes": "Retains a reported internal objection to the conduct. It does not negate the mother’s account or establish how widespread the conduct was.", "item": {"id": "ITEM-0040", "tradition_id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande bush initiation, genital cutting and restrictions on disclosure", "secrecy_type": "initiatory_rite", "restricted_to": "Initiated women and girls; ceremonies closed to non-members", "restriction_mechanism": "social_sanction;violence_or_threat", "stated_reason": "Not established from a practitioner statement in the inspected sources", "current_status": "unknown", "status_as_of": "", "status_claim_ids": "", "description": "Restricted initiation involving female genital mutilation (FGM), including documented coercion.", "notes": "Reports and testimony are attributed to their authors. The physical rites were not directly observed by UN monitors."}, "tradition": {"id": "TRAD-0031", "name": "Sande societies in Liberia", "tradition_type": "indigenous_tradition", "founded": "", "region": "Northern, western and central Liberia", "status": "unknown", "wikidata": "", "notes": "Spiritual and cultural initiation associations. Membership may coexist with Christianity or Islam. The records below concern the places and reporting periods in the cited sources, not all members or all Liberian traditions."}, "supporting_sources": [{"id": "SRC-0088", "title": "Liberian Mother Calls for End to Forced Initiations and Secret Harmful Practices", "author": "OHCHR; United Nations in Liberia", "original_year": "2021", "edition_year": "", "source_type": "testimony", "url": "https://liberia.un.org/en/160720-liberian-mother-calls-end-forced-initiations-and-secret-harmful-practices", "identifiers": "", "provenance": "investigative_reporting", "source_authenticity": "verified", "verification_notes": "Read the OHCHR-credited story on the official UN country site on 2026-11-04. It publishes a named former initiate’s account and UN staff comments. Publication identity is verified; the interview is not independent verification of every underlying event.", "rights": "unknown", "content_hash": "", "notes": "29 November 2021. Child victims are not named in the dataset.", "artifacts": []}], "contradicting_sources": [], "dataset": {"name": "open-arcana", "version": "0.3.0", "metadata_license": "CC0-1.0", "snapshot_sha256": "fd755a0cc0c78cf43dac965d39908085b13b246532d888525645150e391f8e45"}, "quality_issues": [{"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_without_content_hash", "message": "No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead."}, {"table": "sources", "record_id": "SRC-0088", "code": "source_rights_unknown", "message": "The source text's rights have not been established."}]}]}