By Zainab Joaque
The Human Rights Committee on the eliminations of all forms of discrimination against women, CEDAW, has expressed regret in the reported lack of independence of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL).
Sierra Leone, the committee said, should take steps to strengthen de facto independence of the HRCSL and ensure that its recommendations were adequately taken into account by the state in line with the Paris Principles or the General Assembly resolution 48/134.
At the same time, the commission should be provided with the necessary financial and human resources to be able to carry out its mandate effectively.
In its recent concluding observations on the initial report onthe country, the committee noted that “the Commission has insufficient resources to fully execute its mandate and that their recommendations are not adequately taken into account by state authorities”.
It said there was no representative at the 57th Session of the Committee on CEDAW in Geneva, Switzerland, to provide full information on the current situation of civil and political rights in the country.
The Committee welcomed the current Constitutional Review Process, but was “particularly concerned at the discriminatory provisions against women contained in the existing Constitution and that more attention should be paid to the process by ensuring the full participation of civil society in the on-going process”.
“Issues of lack of judicial independence, allegations of corruptions, lengthy delays in court hearings and lack of due process is regrettable”, it said, adding that the justice sector reform should be strengthened in its effort to enhance judicial capacity, including removal of all unnecessary measures to improve access to legal representation and strengthen the independence of the judiciary.
Whilst appreciating the country’s effort to enforce the Anti-Human Trafficking Act 2005 and the establishment of the Office of National Security (ONS) to coordinate the monitoring of human trafficking, the HRC said it was concerned about the persistence of the phenomenon and the lack of specific information on prosecution and convictions of traffickers.
“There should be an on-going training for law enforcement officials and border patrol, including personnel of ONS to apply the Act, and increased efforts aimed at ensuring that all perpetrators of human trafficking are brought to justice and the victims adequately compensated”.
The human rights committee on CEDAW also asked the government of Sierra Leone to widely disseminate the Covenant, the text of the initial periodic report, the written responses it has provided in response to the list of issues drawn up by the Committee, and the present concluding observations so as to increase awareness among the judicial, legislative and administrative authorities, civil society and non-governmental organization as well as the general public.
The Committee requested that when preparing its second periodic report, which is due to be submitted on 28 March 2017, to provide specific, up-to-date information on all its recommendations and on the Covenant as a whole.
(C) Politico 10/04/14
