By Mabinty M. Kmara
Mariatu 13, (not her real name), is a Sierra Leonean who lived with foster parents in Freetown and hoped for a better life through education. She was living together with two biological children of her caregivers, a boy and a girl of the same age.
Mariatu’s Aunt would later secure enrolment into a nursing course in the provinces where she temporarily relocated leaving the girl and the other kids in the care of the husband. She would pay weekend visits depending on the situation with her coursework.
Unfortunately for the teenager, her protector became the predator feeding on the young girl’s innocence while the wife was away trying to be empowered for her financial independence. A few months into her course and her stay away from home, the aunt was on one of her weekend breaks when she realized a change in little Mariatu’s body and health and that necessitated a medical check that revealed that the 13-year-old was in the family way.
The aunt could not believe the test result but went to another facility for a second opinion, and to her disappointment, the result of the diagnosis showed the same outcome - pregnancy.
The confused woman dragged the little girl by the ears to know who impregnated her and to the aunt’s utter shock the girl told her: “It's uncle Abdulai”. The lady couldn’t believe the drama unfolding around her home.
“The wife wanted to expose her husband by reporting the matter to the police but his family members intervened. Compromise then crept in,” said a close family member.
Mariatu was sent back to the village to avoid attracting the attention of neighbours in Freetown which may lead to further embarrassment for the family. The marriage between the paedophile uncle and the wife took a turn for the worse as the wife could no longer trust the husband even with their 13-year-old.
The journey
This used to be the case and probably still is in Sierra Leone where rape survivors suffer in silence and the perpetrators are left to roam freely, for fear of breaking family bonds, so-called societal norms or going against an influential community member.
Thanks to efforts such as the Hands off our girls' campaign which has reached girls across the country, the declaration of rape as a public health emergency in 2019, the review of the Sexual Offences Act of 2012 and the Sexual Offences Model Court charge with the responsibility of ensuring speedy trial of sexual offence cases. With the review of the Sexual Offences Act, sex offenders can now be sentenced from a minimum of five years to life imprisonment. It also prescribes stiffer punishment for those who compromise the successful prosecution of matters related to sexual offences. However, a lot of girls like Mariatu would continue to suffer in silence.
The Milestone
2020-2023 has seen a decrease in sexual offence cases according to data from the Rainbo Initiative Centre. A total of three thousand five hundred and forty-eight (3,548) Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) cases were reported to the Centre in 2020 out of which three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine were sexual offences (3,339) and two hundred and nine physical assault (209) cases.
In 2021, three thousand two hundred and ninety-two (3292) cases were recorded out of which there were two thousand nine hundred and sixty (2,966) sexual assault cases and three hundred and twenty-six (3026) physical assault cases. Data from 2022 indicate that a total of two thousand nine- hundred and thirty-nine cases were reported (2,939) with two thousand seven hundred and five (2075) sexual offences related, and two hundred and thirty-four physical assaults (234) cases.
From January to September 2023, a total of two thousand one hundred and fifty nine (2,159) SGBV cases were received out of which thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine (1,999) were sexual assault cases and one hundred and sixty (160) of physical assault nature. Speaking to Politico, Bob Lamin - Prevention and Communication Manager at Rainbo initiative said the steady decline in sexual offence cases over the period highlighted could mean a decline in the act itself or the fact that people are not reporting cases, like Mariatu’s which was compromised.
“Yes, I agree there is a decrease but it can be two folds. One could be because of the declaration of a Public Emergency on Rape in 2019, there is the sexual offences model court, and in the provinces sexual offence cases go straight to the high court. There has been an increased awareness about support for SGBV survivors and the need to report those cases. It can also be that people are not reporting, in the sense that most of the cases had to do with family members for fear that they might be put behind bars,” he said.
To date, we don’t have a forensic testing lab for rape cases, one of the reasons many perpetrators continue to walk free.
This according to Lamin serves as a hindrance to their quest to ensure justice for the survivors since lawyers can only rely on circumstantial evidence.
The free sanitary pads distribution exercise by First Lady Fatima Bio and other humanitarian groups are all part of successful moves to ensure the dignity and respect of women and girls across the country.
Many girls have missed lessons in school because they could not attend during their menstrual period which normally lasts for up to a week for some people, for fear of being embarrassed by either their female counterparts or boys in co-educational schools and sometimes even teachers especially when the girls could not take proper care of themselves.
On the international front, Sierra Leone’s First Lady in an article highlighted her advocacy gains in her drive to provide safe spaces for SGBV survivors in the country. “I advocated for a resolution on sexual abuse. In 2022, for the first time through the United Nations, November 18 became World Day for the prevention and healing from child sexual Exploitation Abuse, and Violence,” she stated. Dr. Fatima Bio added that in one year, the resolution has provided access to justice for sexual violence survivors both locally and internationally.
“While this is a significant step in the prevention of and healing from sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, we should be reminded about the urgent need for communities to come together and take bold actions to prevent other women from becoming victims,” she said adding that “we can no longer wait until another woman or young girl becomes the victim of sexual violence before marching to the streets and demanding actions,” she said.
The Free Quality School Education up to Senior School was introduced as a flagship programme in 2018 and the radical inclusion policy of the government has created an impact on the number of girls’ enrolment in schools and excelling in public examinations like the Basic Education Certificate Examination, the National Primary School Examination (NPSE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). For the NPSE, we have had girls topping the exams from 2020 to 2023 the same for the BECE. However, the excellent ones have always come from private schools something that has raised many eyebrows, questioning the quality of the government’s free quality education scheme which targets government and government-assisted schools. That notwithstanding, the girls are leading in schools.
Political participation
Campaign for the dignity and the growth of women and girls especially in governance took a new dimension in 2022 with the development of the contentious Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) bill that was subsequently passed into law after 13 months of presentation to the house of parliament for enactment, according to the then minister of Gender Manty Tarawalli on whose watch the bill was developed and enacted.
This Act covered priority areas including a gender quota for women’s political participation both in elective and appointive positions. Thanks to the Act that paved the way for review of the Public Election Act which resulted in the Proportional Representation system as opposed to the constituency-based system, the June 24 2023 General Elections in Sierra Leone recorded the highest number of women representation both in parliament and in local councils in addition to the increased number of women in appointive positions.
The Sustainability
The journey of ensuring a safer community for women and girls, their growth and development goes beyond having a safe space for them and their participation in governance. A key focus now should be gender-responsive budgeting. This means taking into account the needs of women and men in allocating resources, especially in ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Speaking in an interview, the UNPD’s Gender Analyst in Sierra Leone Kadiatu Bachalle Taylor said Gender Responsive budgeting is essential to the growth and development of Women and girls in that “It caters for their needs and it addresses the drivers and enablers of sexual and gender-based violence. Statistics have shown that a lot of women are being abused and are involved in transactional sex because they are poor. Therefore, addressing gender needs and interest in budgeting addresses caters for strategic programming that will alleviate issues of discrimination and those that debar them from actualizing their potential,” she said. This she said is critical at both policy level and for service delivery.
With the introduction of the Government’s Big Five development agenda which has Food Security dubbed Feed Salone initiative, job opportunities will be created, among others.
Sierra Leonean women have been more engaged in agricultural practices than their male counterparts even though on a subsistence scale due to a lack of capital and the know-how about managing large-scale agricultural initiatives which are mostly capital intensive and require the use of complex machinery.
To consolidate all of these gains and efforts made over the years in creating a safe space for women and girls, women’s political participation, and financial independence. Gender budgeting is critical in all of these. As the review of the National Development Plan continues, there is a need for a clear disaggregated budget line for women and girls. For instance in the Feed Salone project- how many female agriculturists will benefit from whatever comes from the project and how would they benefit? How many women are to benefit from the proposed five thousand jobs that will be created and how would they benefit?
Institutions should have gender-responsive budgets so that those brilliant initiatives of the government, private individuals and other development partners to promote women's and girls' growth are not stifled.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (18/01/24)
