By Alusine Fullah

According to the Sierra Leone Crime Statistics Report 2023, violence against women and children is a serious public health concern, with cost at multiple levels of society. Although violence is a threat to everyone women and children are particularly susceptible to victimization because they often have fewer rights or lack appropriate means of protection. In some societies, certain types of violence are deemed socially or legally acceptable, thereby contributing further to the risk women and children face. In 2023 crime report, 10,063 cases of offences against women and children were reported country wide.

Yes, having gone through the Sierra Leone Police Crime Statistics Report 2023, I felt so bad and to some extent I felt hopeless. Yes, the report for the 2023 police crime report is a wake-up call to all and sundry. A wake up call in this sense for the Sierra Leone government to put more and more mechanisms in place for women and children’s rights violation. Yes, a lot of efforts have been done on the protection women and children’s rights. This can be vividly seen or tested by the enactment of Women Empowerment Act 2023 and the Child Rights Act.

Apart from those acts, the government of Sierra Leone has revised and strengthened the Sexual Offences Act 2012. To make it more robust, it was amended in 2019 with robust penalties and operation mechanism put in place for its implementation.

However, of all the above efforts, it seems that no efforts has not been put place. This is especially when the figures of gender based violence are hiking every now and then. Many are pondering and wondering what is the essence of those acts. Honestly, the statistics is always there to show that indeed women and children are the hardest hit in terms of violence.  An estimated 62 per cent of women age 15–49 report having experienced physical or sexual violence, according to the 2019 SLDHS. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was feared that the rates of GBV, which were already unacceptably high in Sierra Leone, would be exacerbated. Sixty one percent of ever-married women age 15-49 have experienced spousal violence whether physical, sexual or emotional by their husband or partner.

In 2020, UNFPA Sierra Leone supported the Government of Sierra Leone in establishing and operating Government One-Stop Centres, with the generous support of Irish Aid and the Government of China. The Government One-Stop Centres offer a comprehensive package of services including family planning commodities to survivors of GBV, and they reached 532 survivors.