By Amin Kef Sesay
In continuation of our publications of excerpts from the 2019 Sierra Leone Human Rights Report by the United States Embassy, our focus in this edition is on: Discrimination, Societal Abuses & Trafficking in Persons.
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape of both men and women. In February President Bio declared a State of Emergency against rape and sexual violence. In September Parliament passed new legislation that raised the penalty for those convicted of rape to a minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment. Previously, a conviction was punishable by between five- and 15-years’ imprisonment, although many offenders were given lesser prison terms. Press reports noted that in 2018 a man convicted of raping a six-year-old girl was given a one-year prison sentence.
Rape was common and viewed more as a societal norm than a criminal problem. The law specifically prohibits spousal rape. Indictments were rare, especially in rural areas. A reluctance to use the judicial system by both victims and officials, combined with women’s lack of income and economic independence, helped perpetuate violence against women and impunity for offenders. During the year, despite the existence of the Family Support Unit (FSU) within the SLP and applicable legislation, reports of rapes, especially involving child victims, sharply increased.
The NGO Rainbo Initiative reported that its five centers assisting victims of sexual and gender-based violence had encountered 1,051 rape cases in the first half of the year. Rainbo, other civil society organizations, and Government agencies assessed that thousands of rape cases go unreported. The perpetrators are often close family members or relatives who live alongside their victims. Of the 3,000 cases reported in 2018, 602 survivors became pregnant, seven contracted HIV/AIDS, and 2,404 developed sexually transmitted diseases. The Attorney General’s Office reported that only 39 of the 3,000 cases were prosecuted successfully. Many cases went unresolved due to lack of financial support, lack of forensic evidence, religious beliefs, inconsistency in the application of relevant law, and cultural beliefs.
Violent acts against women, especially wife beating and spousal rape, were common and often surrounded by a culture of silence. Conviction of domestic violence is punishable by a fine not exceeding five million Leones ($555) and two years’ imprisonment. Victims seldom reported domestic violence due to their fear of social stigma and retaliation. The HRCSL observed that the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence continued to rise while arrests and convictions of perpetrators were negligible. A psychosocial worker of the NGO Rainbo Center blamed the structure of the justice system and lengthy court processes for the delay in accessing justice. First Lady Fatima Bio and NGOs such as the Rainbo Center actively promoted public awareness, calling on men to refrain from violence against women.
According to the FSU, medical and psychological services for rape victims were limited. The FSU often required victims to obtain a medical report for the filing of charges. Although the law provides that the victim of a sexual offense shall be entitled to free medical treatment and medical reports, many victims had to pay for these medical services, and most Government doctors charged fees that were prohibitively expensive for the victims. Although the law provides that the victim of a sexual offense shall be entitled to free medical treatment and medical reports, many victims had to pay for these medical services.
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): The law does not prohibit FGM/C for women or girls. According to a 2017 UNICEF report, 86.1 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone a form of genital mutilation/cutting. FGM/C is considered a traditional rite of passage into womanhood. UNICEF polling indicated that societal support for FGM/C remained strong in the country. During the year one young woman who underwent FGM/C died of blood loss.
Sexual Harassment: The law criminalizes sexual harassment, but authorities did not always effectively enforce it. It is unlawful to make unwanted sexual advances, repeatedly follow or pursue others against their will, initiate repeated and unwanted communications with others, or engage in any other “menacing” behaviour. Conviction of sexual harassment is punishable by a fine not exceeding 14.3 million Leones ($1,580) or imprisonment not exceeding three years. No reliable data was available on the prevalence of sexual harassment.
Coercion in Population Control: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization.
Discrimination: The law provides for the same legal status and rights for men and women under family, labor, property, and inheritance law. Women continued to experience discriminatory practices. Their rights and positions are largely contingent on customary law and the ethnic group to which they belong. The law provides for both Sierra Leonean fathers and mothers to confer nationality to children born abroad. The law provides for equal remuneration for equal work without discrimination based on gender. Either spouse may acquire property in their own right or women may obtain divorce without being forced to relinquish dowries.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs reported that women faced widespread societal discrimination, particularly in matters of marriage, divorce, property, and inheritance, which are guided by customary law in all areas except Freetown. Formal law applies in customary as well as formal courts, but customary judges had limited or no legal training and often were unaware of formal law or chose to ignore it. Women’s rights and status under customary law varied significantly depending upon the ethnic group to which they belonged, but such rights and status were routinely inferior to those of men. Under customary law, women’s status in society is equal to that of a minor. Women were frequently perceived to be the property of their husbands and to be inherited on his death with his other property.
Discrimination occurred in access to credit, equal pay for similar work, and the ownership and management of a business. Women did not have equal access to education, economic opportunities, health facilities, or social freedoms. In rural areas, women performed much of the subsistence farming and had little opportunity for formal education. Women also experienced discrimination in access to employment, and it was common for an employer to dismiss a woman if she became pregnant during her first year on the job. The law does not prohibit dismissal of pregnant workers based on pregnancy.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs has a mandate to protect the rights of women, but most international and domestic NGOs asserted the Ministry did not have the resources, infrastructure, and support of other Ministries to handle its assigned projects effectively. The Ministry routinely relied on the assistance of international organizations and NGOs to help combat women’s rights abuses.
