By Aminata Phidelia Allie
The government of Sierra Leone has denied allegations of human rights violations levelled against it by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which cited “The delay in trials and the paucity of law officers in the country".
At a meeting in Geneva two weeks ago the UN Human Rights Committee also noted "the appalling prison conditions; the widening impunity gap for security officers accused of unlawful killings; the lack of cooperation by the state in bringing former aide to Charles Taylor, Ibrahim Baldeh, to justice”, among other issues.
According to a government spokesman, Abdulai Baraytay, a 13-page response, which is yet to be released to the public was compiled just days after several concerns had been raised by the committee at the first review of Sierra Leone's human rights record, in Geneva Switzerland.
According to a press release issued by civil society groups that attended the Geneva conference, the issues around which the UN body expressed “grave concerns” included "violence perpetrated against persons on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and the challenges confronting the Constitutional Review Committee.7
The groups - the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, Prison Watch, Dignity Association and IPAS - said other issues included the fact that the abortion bill was drafted five years ago but had still not been enacted; "the failure of the state to abolish the death penalty and the government’s reluctance to enact a legislation protecting the rights of women from harmful traditional practices".
In the area of police indiscipline and unlawful killings, the government rebuttal notes that commissions of enquiry were “empanelled to investigate the causes of violence in the alleged incidences of arbitrary deprivation of life and serious injuries during the violent demonstration in Bumbuna, Koidu city and disturbances between elements of the All Peoples’ Congress and the Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party in 2010".
On matters of Female Genital Mutilation and harmful traditional practices, the report defends the government’s stance by making reference to the "passage of the Child Rights Act, and a lot of sensitisation on how to get traditional leaders (Sowei’s) and other authorities not to initiate children under age 18 [years]".
It furthers that steps are being taken to address lengthy pre-trial detentions "by establishing new magistrates’ courts in Freetown and the provinces so that at the death of a sitting magistrate or judge, circuit courts are put into operations to cope with the challenge".
It says "bail should not be discriminatory" and that some prisoners will be released to "decongest the detention centres" with the Constitutional Review process dealing with the issue of abolishing the death penalty.
"Declining donor support to the government, deep cultural and traditional beliefs, impact of the war and issues relating to the exploitation of state resource" were some of the issues blamed at the Geneva conference as some of the barriers to the state’s compliance with its obligations under the ICCPR.
(C) Politico 25/03/14
