The Ambassador of the European Union to Sierra Leone Manuel MÜLLER has signed the Financial Agreement on the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative. The signature of the Financing Agreement on the EU-UN Spotlight marks the support of the European Union to the initiatives of the Government of Sierra Leone in the fight against violence against women and girls through close cooperation with the United Nations.

In his speech, Amb. MULLER revealed the worth of this initiative in the fight against gender-based violence in Sierra Leone.  He said: “With over 15 million EUR of funds from the EU, and a global partnership between the EU and the UN, the Spotlight Initiative aims at addressing SGBV, and giving a relief to the women in society…”

Amb. MULLER went further to disclose that the initiative brings together: Ministry of Finance, as the signatory and main actor in setting budgetary priority, but also Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs in the lead on violence against women, the  Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Health and Sanitation, providing respectively, psychosocial support and medical services for survivors, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, implementing a radical education policy inclusive of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHRs), Ministry of Justice and the Sierra Leone Police.

The overall objective of the Spotlight Initiative is that “All women and girls in Sierra Leone, particularly the most vulnerable should live a life free of violence and harmful practices, collectively described as violence against women and girls (VAWG)”.

Gender-based violence remains one of the world’s most widespread and devastating human rights violation. Globally, Sierra Leone ranks 162^nd out of 170 countries in the Gender Equality Index. Discriminatory social norms about appropriate roles and responsibilities for women and men are key contributors to gender based violence in the country. According to the Sierra Leone Demographic Health Survey, 2019, 60.7 per cent of women and adolescent girls aged 15-49, have experienced physical violence and 7.4 per cent sexual violence since aged 15.

Violence against women and girls in Sierra Leone is intentional and systemic. It is the physical, sexual, emotional and structural harm inflicted on a woman as a deliberate method for maintaining their subordinate status. Anyone in society can be affected, but the highest proportion of sexual gender based violence is experienced by women and girls in society.