By Amin Kef Sesay
On Sunday 15th November 2020, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed and the First Lady, Madam Fatima Maada Bio met at State House where they discussed pertinent issues.
Welcoming the Deputy Secretary-General, the First Lady said she admired her work and passion. She furthered that she has been working with other First Ladies in order to accelerate and spread the awareness far and wide about the significance of accelerating gender equity.
She informed the Deputy Secretary General that Sierra Leone has managed to set up a Special Court to deal with matters relating to rape and other sexual based violence which, she said, will be replicated in other parts of the country. The results, since the inception of the Special Court have been encouraging, according to the First Lady.
The First Lady mentioned how she personally engaged local leaders in various communities countrywide to champion the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign and also reasoned out with people to see the need for girls to be in school.
She also went on to talk about how the Police and Military were also brought on board a Task Force set up to combat SGBV alongside the women doctors in Sierra Leone, adding that the President sits as Chairman of the Task Force which meets once a month.
“We want positive change not just for Sierra Leone but for Africa as a whole,” the First Lady asserted.
On her part, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, said she is pleased to be in Sierra Leone adding that indeed the First Lady is doing a great job by using her Office to address some of the issues that matter most in Sierra Leone.
She pointed out that their initial objective for undertaking the visit is to show solidarity during this COVID-19 period and more especially to show that there is still global leadership, global attention and how they can bring all the necessary responses to help deal with the current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Deputy Secretary General said they are on a working visit to five countries, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Ghana saying these countries have different issues, which is why they are demonstrating that they are in solidarity with the Governments and the people they serve. She said Sierra Leone is a post-conflict country highlighting that sustaining peace takes time.
She added that when they landed in Sierra Leone they talked to different stakeholders and discussed issues they care about and which they consider they will support the Government on to implement. She said Sexual and Gender-Based Violence falls among the issues to be tackled.
She said “Hands Off Our Girls” is an amazing slogan as it is simple and effective and it is about changing mindset and taking the responsibility for creating a space for girls to have a right to participate and not to have fear, adding also that the setting up of the Special Court for rape is a signal that the Government is very serious in tackling the thorny issue of Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
She went on to state that they are happy to support the project with their spotlight program, and will like to bring Sierra Leone into that project and also work with the First Lady to manufacture sanitary pads.
