By Gibril Conteh
Sierra Leone experiences 733 suicides annually, according to a World Health Organization estimates, with a suicidal rate of 9.7 per 100,000 people.
Mental Health Sierra Leone’s Country Director, Joshua Abioseh Duncan highlighted the figures during a press conference in Freetown, organized by Mental Health Coalition in commemoration of World Suicide Prevention Day on Wednesday September 10, 2025. He said suicidal attempt is an offence in Sierra Leone with the intention to deter people from taking their own life.
He said despite criminalization of the practice, it still doesn’t prevent people from doing it, citing stigma and isolation for reinforcing such suicidal thoughts.
He said someone can be charged as an accomplice for having prior knowledge but not reporting a suicidal incident.
He cited section 74 of Act no. 31 of 1965 that states suicide and its attempt are criminal offences, saying that even children as young as 14 years old can be prosecuted. “Are we really fair enough to those individuals who might be going through traumatic event and yet, even when they fail, instead of providing care for them, we also go ahead to criminalize them?” he asked.
Duncan pointed out that criminalizing suicide can bring harm to the family and violates the human rights of the individual. He urged people to look out for events leading suicide not the outcome to ensure suicidal cases are mitigated in the country, saying that most suicidal cases are as a result of mental health condition. He emphasized the need to raise awareness so that people would not see suicide as a demonic act.
Duncan noted that Mental Health Coalition in partnership with Global Mental Health are aiming to hold a campaign to decriminalize suicide in Sierra Leone and that their main goal of this campaign is to develop legal frameworks and policies that resonate to suicide prevention and to implement community-based, evidence driven interventions.
He lamented that Sierra Leone is among 25 countries in the world that criminalize suicide, saying that the legal stand of suicide not only perpetuates stigma surrounding mental health issues but discourages individuals from seeking help.
Therefore, he called on the government, community, traditional and religious leaders to decriminalize suicide in Sierra Leone and institute help seeking behaviors at all levels of society, creating an enabling environment that empowers individuals and reduces societal stigma surrounding mental and suicide, enhancing public awareness of effective suicide prevention strategies, facilitate the creation and accessibility of mental health services across all sectors of society and support community-based awareness campaigns focused on mental health and suicide prevention.
Walters Carew, Chairman of Mental Health Coalition Sierra Leone said that the purpose of commemorating World Suicide Prevention Day is to raise awareness looking at the causes and find ways to prevent them. He said that they want to use this day as an opportunity to advocate against the criminalization of suicide. He noted that their coalition is seeking to provide help and support for people attempting suicide.
