By Aminata Phidelia Allie
The UN committee on human rights has expressed "serious concerns" over the state of human rights in Sierra Leone and the country’s effort at meeting its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR.
The country’s human rights record faced serious scrutiny for the first time on 11-12 March this year in meetings held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva in Switzerland.
Sierra Leone is one of the 167 states that are parties to the ICCPR, one of the primary international human rights treaties, and so is required to undergo regular examination of its human rights record before the committee.
Among issues of grave concern raised in a statement issued by four local human rights and civil society organisations on March 13 included “the delay in trials and the paucity of law officers in the country; the appalling prisons condition; 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; violence perpetrated against persons on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation”.
They also highlighted the challenges confronting the constitutional review committee, the fact that the abortion bill was drafted five years ago and had still not been enacted, the failure of the state to abolish the death penalty and the government’s reluctance to enact a piece of legislation protecting the rights of women from harmful traditional practices.
The groups, whose representatives were present at the meeting, expressed “deepest disappointment in the government for failing to send a delegation to provide concrete answers to questions raised at the review”.
The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, Dignity Association, Prisons Watch and IPAS, jointly said that in the absence of a government delegation from Sierra Leone, “it needed the Ambassador to Switzerland to step in, thus making the review particularly difficult for both the committee and Ambassador [Bockarie] Stevens”.
The two-day review process focused extensively on civil and political rights, “and served as an eye-opener to the progress Sierra Leone has made, as well as, the significant challenges that persist in addressing these issues”.
When contacted Abdulai Bayraytay from the ministry of information, said he was not fully briefed on the matter and suggested that the attorney general and minister of justice, Franlyn Bai Kargbo, was best placed to deal with the issue. He also assured that the matter would be “adequately addressed” at the weekly Thursday press conference.
Meanwhile, the AG said the deputy foreign affairs, Ebun Jusu, who he said attended such conferences, should be contacted. Politico could not get her at press time.
(C) Politico 20/03/14
