The Constitution of Sierra Leone provides for equal rights for men and women, but the principle of non-discrimination does not apply in all areas. In February 2007, the government established a commission to review the Constitution and eliminate all discriminatory measures.
At present, women are subject to legal and social discrimination in day-to-day life. Their rights and position are contingent on traditional law and the ethnic group to which they belong. Sierra Leone was ravaged by civil war from 1991 to 2002. Both men and women suffered the consequences of the conflict, which created thousands of refugees and displaced persons. It is difficult to determine which problems concern women in particular and which affect human rights in general. Women and children were subjected to rape and sexual slavery during the war, and appear to have been its most affected victims.
Despite the egalitarian Constitution of Sierra Leone, the Family Code is highly discriminatory to women. Under the law on Christian marriage, a father’s authorisation is required when the person marrying is under 21 years of age; in the father’s absence the mother can give authorisation. The consent of both parties is required for marriages conducted under customary law, but no minimum age is specified. The incidence of early marriage is extremely high in Sierra Leone: a 2004 United Nations report estimated that 47 per cent of girls between 15 and 19 years of age were married, divorced or widowed.
Polygamy is prohibited under Sierra Leone’s Penal Code and is punishable by eight years in prison, but it is authorised in customary marriages. The practice seems widespread in rural areas, but no statistics are available to confirm this.
The Constitution of Sierra Leone does not specify which parent is the head of the family, but custom generally grants this position to men. In principle, parental authority is shared by both parents, but tradition dictates that children belong to their father.
Women’s inheritance rights depend on their ethnic group and the relevant traditional law. Some tribes grant women the right to inherit property. Other tribal systems consider the wife to be a possession of the deceased husband; thus, she becomes part of the inheritance. Widows are not entitled to inherit the land belonging to their household. Sierra Leone’s civil legislative system is also discriminatory. When a wife dies, her husband obtains all joint property; by contrast, if a husband dies, his wife can obtain only a portion of the couple’s property.
The physical integrity of women in Sierra Leone is not sufficiently protected. Violence against women, and domestic violence in particular, has increased in recent years. Parliament is currently debating a new law that would criminalise acts of violence committed within a couple. At present, the police and other authorities rarely intervene in family disputes, which are considered to be a private matter rather than a social issue. Rape is prohibited in Sierra Leone and is punishable by 14 years in prison. Rape was used as a weapon during the civil war and there were numerous victims. It now appears to be declining in comparison to other forms of violence against women.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is legal in Sierra Leone and is widely practised across all sectors of society. The African news agency AFROL has estimated that between 80 and 90 per cent of women in Sierra Leone have been subjected to FGM.
Sierra Leone does not appear to be a country of concern in relation to missing women.
Women in Sierra Leone have very few ownership rights. Women constitute the largest group of agricultural labourers, but they have never had full access to land, which is governed by customary rules. For example, in the north and west of Sierra Leone, women can theoretically own plots of land, but in the south and east, they can access land only through their husbands or other male family members.
In addition, there are two main types of farmland ownership in Sierra Leone. Under the community system, land belongs to the community or government, and individuals wishing to use it must acquire permission from the local authority. In most cases, women can be given the right to use land only if they obtain their husbands’ consent. The customary system provides for private ownership, but the land belongs to the family and is most often administered by the male head of the household. The government has established a land reform commission to guarantee equal access to land for men and women.
Women have very limited access to property other than land. Under customary marriage rules, a married woman is not entitled to manage a couple’s property because she is considered to be one of her husband’s possessions. Women are considered as perpetual minors and are not free to make decisions without their husbands’ agreement.
The fact that women are not entitled to own land restricts their access to bank loans: financial institutions often require land as a guarantee. Several micro-credit programmes target women in particular, with the aim of helping them to acquire funds.
Sierra Leone grants its female citizens certain civil liberties; for example, women do not require their husband’s consent to obtain a passport. In general, there are no reported legal restrictions to women’s freedom of movement or freedom of dress. It is important to note, however, that women’s civil liberties were jeopardised severely during the war: large numbers of girls were kidnapped and forcibly held to serve as sexual slaves for the soldiers.
Afrol News (n.d.), Gender Profile : Sierra Leone, www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/profiles/sierraleone_women.htm.
CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) (2006), Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Sierra Leone, Combined Initial, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports of States Parties, CEDAW/C/SLE/1-5, CEDAW, New York, NY.
CEDAW (2007), Responses to the List of Issues And Questions with Regard to the Consideration of the Combined Initial, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports: Sierra Leone, CEDAW/C/SLE/Q/5/Add. 1, CEDAW, New York, NY.
HRW (Human Rights Watch) (2003), “ ‘We Kill You if You Cry’, Sexual Violences in the Sierra Leone Conflict”, Human Rights Watch Report, HRW, New York, http://hrw.org/reports/2003/sierraleone/.
UN (United Nations) (2004), World Fertility Report 2003, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, New York, NY.
UN (2006), World Population Prospects, Population Database, UN Population Division, New York, NY.
US Department of State (2007), International Religious Freedom Report: Sierra Leone, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Washington, DC.
