Accessing Justice in Rural Sierra Leone

The Accessing Justice Programmein Sierra Leone focuses on enhancing people’s ability to seek and claim justice within the local justice mechanisms at community levels. The emphasis is on rural communities in general and on women and girls in particular, due to women’s subordinated position, their lack of equality before the law and the high levels of sexual and domestic violence. The coalition consists of 5 local organisations:

• Peace and Reconciliation Movement (PRM) in Bo
• Rehabilitation and Development Agency (RADA) in Bo
• Access to Justice Law Centre (AJLC) in Makeni;
• Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDHR) in Makeni;
• Amnesty International Sierra Leonean Section (AISL) in Freetown.

The coalition partners operate the districts of Bo, Pujehun, Bombali, Tonkolili, Port Loko and Bombali in six northern and southern districts of the country.

Gender Based Violence and Harmful Traditional Practices

In 2007, the introduction of the three Gender Acts created opportunities for coalition partners to address violence against women (including women’s access to inherit and possess property), within a legal framework. The introduction of the Child Rights Act in the same year provided the needed legal framework for partners to expand activities towards Harmful Traditional Practices (HTP), such as Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and early marriages.

Community sensitization of the Acts, organized dialogue and discussion on its contents with community groups and traditional leaders, became at the core of community based activities. Systematically engaging practitioners of FGM/C (traditionally called ‘Soweis’) in various dialogue and training activities became a new approach in addressing HTP. Promoting collective abandonment of underage initiation became a key focus throughout the operational areas.

Community dialogue and community justice

Voluntary Human Rights Committees have been established and trained in community mobilisation techniques, human rights and in providing basic legal advice, building upon the community based networks some organisations already worked with. Among the community based activities systematically implemented are (amongst others):

• ‘community dialogue’, in which various (locally relevant) human rights issues are collectively addressed, guided by a trained human rights worker;
• ‘community justice workshops’, during which miscarriages of justice in the informal justice mechanisms are openly addressed and solutions collectively sought with those who administer justice in the formal and traditional justice mechanisms, and
• ‘Sowei exchange sessions’, where Soweis publicly abandoning FGM/C on under 18ns are brought together with those Soweis reluctant to give up the practice.

Paralegal services

To respond to the many needs of women in particular, an additional paralegal office was established in Tonkolili District in 2013, which deals primarily with domestic violence, women’s inheritance rights and child maintenance. Paralegal services go hand in hand with ongoing training of local (formal and informal) authorities responsible for dispensing justice. Further efforts were made to collate, compile and revise Chiefdom community by-laws in South Eastern communities. Revision of by-laws is done in order to bring these in line with human rights standards. Albeit by-laws are not legally binding, they are the most relevant and most accessible laws for local communities.

‘Accessing Justice Programme Sierra Leone. Impact Assessment Report 2011’

In 2011, a [refence index=”1″]full programme evaluation[/reference] was carried out, which revealed a good number of achievements, challenges and lessons learnt.

In the field of FGM, new avenues were explored following the programmes evaluation’s outcome in 2011. Initiation of underage girls is obviously strongly related to early marriage and both are strongly related to the high levels of(unwanted) teenage pregnancies. Engaging parents, teachers and school pupils (in a bid to address peer pressure among school going girls in becoming initiated), became a stronger focus since 2011.

Commercial Land Acquisition

The majority of the Sierra Leonean population are small holder farmers. Despite the fact that there is pressure for arable land in Sierra Leone, over 90,000 HA have been leased out in recent years to foreign investors for mineral exploitation and bio fuels production. While commercial land acquisition does not fall within the scope of theAccessing Justice Programme, the SPA felt that this phenomenon, affecting the livelihoods of scores of rural communities, deserves to be monitored closely. Early 2012, a Sierra Leonean intern conducted a low-profile explorative study into commercial land acquisition focusing on three companies in three districts:

• Pujehun District (Malen Chiefdom), SOCFIN Agricultural Company, 7.000 ha;
• Bombali District (Makari Gbanti Chiefdom), ADDAX Bioenergy, 20.000 ha; and
• Port Loko District (Loko Massama Chiefdom), Quifel Agribusiness, 74.000 ha.

The study aimed to gain a better understanding of the possible conflict dynamics that may have erupted as a consequence of land acquisition (and the processes that precede the land deals); and aimed to map the direct and indirect implications for women and gender equality in particular. Some cautious conclusions were drawn:

Power inequities are reinforced by these land deals

Women are disproportionally affected, as they do work the land but do not own land legally, hence missed out on the consultations and decisions made.
The consultation processes have clearly failed in many ways, albeit affected communities have a responsibility herein too; several farmers interviewed gave up their farming even before their lands were leased, basically expecting a long list compensations –allegedly promised – to be fulfilled. Expectation management has either not been on the investors’ priority lists, or its importance been underestimated.
These communities however were clearly unprepared for what was coming and are largely dependent upon their traditional leaders who took up a primary, and often questionable, role in the decision-making leading to the land deals.

The fact remains that the land deals are surrounded by confusion, misinformation, a growing dependency on foreign investors and a decrease in food production. Among SPA’s partners, the discussion on how to respond to these land deals is still ongoing. A number of SPA’s partners, operating in areas that are most affected, have initiated activities aimed at sensitizing communities and working with stakeholders on issues around land tenure, the Mines and Minerals Act and environmental degradation.