Sierra Leone News: CSOs Urge Government
By Stephen V. Lansana
The Civil Society RMNCAN+N Coalition Sierra Leone (CSRC-SL), a coalition of over 50 civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations, on Thursday February 14, 2019, called on the government to hasten to establish Forensic Lab to test victims of sexual violence in the country.
This call was made at a one day stakeholders’ dialogue meeting on the implementation of the government national emergency declaration on rape and sexual violence at the Atlantic Hall, National Stadium in Freetown.
The chairman of CSRC-SL, Mr Victor Lansana Koroma said that “Thousands of cases are unreported because of a culture of silence or indifference, leaving victims traumatized,” he said, adding that he wants to raise awareness.
More than 8,500 assault cases were recorded last year — a rise of nearly 4,000 on the figure from the previous year — in a country of 7.5 million people, according to police statistics.
“When we listen to the statistics provided by the Family Support Unit (FSU) and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, it is so horrible that our women and children can go through this kind of problem,” he said. “It is unacceptable. We are calling on the government to address the challenges that use to exist in relation to sexual assaults and violence.”
He said, “For you to prosecute a case against a perpetrator, you must have an empirical evidence, and the best evidence is by having a forensic lab and without a forensic lab it will be difficult to prosecute sexual offenses because the lawyers can just use the law to defend their clients,” adding that currently prosecutors are just relying on the testimony of the victims.
“We are calling on the government to make sure that forensic labs are established as quickly as possible across the country so that victims can have access to the services,” he said.
He also stated that they are going to monitor the commitment of the government to ensure that there will be no consultation fees for victims of sexual violation across the country, adding that they are going to develop a monitoring framework for the implementation of all the commitment of President Bio regarding victims of sexual assaults. He emphasized that as a consortium, they will develop a scorecard to track progresses made.
“Today makes one week since President Bio declared life imprisonment for sexual penetration of minors with immediate effect. But lack of the forensic labs still remains a challenge,” he noted.
Bio said hundreds of cases of rape and sexual assault are reported each month in the West African nation against women, girls and babies as young as three months old. He said some 70 percent of victims are under 15 year.
The current law carries a maximum penalty of 15 years, and very few cases have been prosecuted.