By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Strategies on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) have failed to resonate with figures contained in the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) Crime Statistics of 2019.
The report puts crimes of sexual and gender-based violence at over 2,000.
The figures are still horrific for a country wanting to ensure a zero-tolerance on sexual assault and other forms of violence against women.
As trends of sexual violence continues, the most popular argument pinpoints that the concept of women empowerment is farcical.
It has been established that women would hardly survive in a society riddled with violence especially sexual assault.
Rape, sexual penetration and other forms of attacks on the dignity of women have become weapons used by men to threaten the existence of women in society.
The rolling annual statistics in the crimes of sexual violence oblige the state to pursue strategies to end the menace.
The ground breaking strategy started from the throne following a pronouncement of a state of public emergency on sexual violence.
The pronouncement although controversial in parliament laid a solid foundation for the campaign to end sexual assault in Sierra Leone.
It was a loud call for state and non-state actors to act fast and proffer strategies to halt the widespread social menace.
The ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ campaign by the country’s first lady also followed.
It gains momentum as other West African first ladies joined their Sierra Leonean counterpart to render the crime abominable not only to Sierra Leone but also to other West African countries.
Since its launching, the Hands of Our Girls campaign has been taken to different parts of the country to explain to Sierra Leoneans why they must not tolerate the crime.
The two strategies, an Activist says, are ground breaking since the struggle against sexual violence begins in Sierra Leone.
“It was the first time for an anti-sexual violence strategy to emanate from the country’s highest office,” he said.
In demonstration of the seriousness the crime of violence deserves, government left no avenue unexplored to ensure that the Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2019 became a reality.
It came to pass as law makers were convinced of a great need to pass such law to stop the perpetrators of sexual violence thereby ensuring a society free from sexual violence.
The new sexual assault law provides for life imprisonment as a maximum punishment upon conviction.
The presence of aggravating factors in a conviction also plays a role to determine the severity of a sentence to be handed down.
Since legislation is the foundation for enforcement, last Friday, President Julius Maada Bio launched the country’s first Sexual offences Model Court where perpetrators of sexual violence would be humbled.
The President has always maintained that no one would be spared in the campaign against sexual assault in the country.
He assured survivors of sexual violence that the government would stand by them.
“Be assured that there are Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone who care and who will continue to stand with you steadfastly,” the President assured.
12 judges have been sworn in to handle cases of sexual violence.
In furtherance of SGBV strategies, the Minster of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Manty Tarawallie has also assured Sierra Leoneans of a forensic lab to aid sexual assault investigations.
The promise is based on her conviction that sexual assault suspects would hardly escape in the presence of a lab that will effectively link them to the crime.
The lab’s relevance to sexual assault investigations cannot be underestimated in a highly complex modern society.
Many legal experts have argued that the crime of rape or sexual penetration is highly complex and therefore needs the right logistics and expertise to prove them.
An eminent 19th Century lawyer, Sir Matthew Hale says: “The crime of rape is easy to be made, but hard to be proved, but is harder to be defended on the party accused though innocent.”
The promise of a Forensic Laboratory by the Minister is very much in line with the ‘One-Stop Centre’ strategy by the Sierra Leone police in collaboration with International Security Assistance Training Team (ISAT).
The centre ideally would house all experts in the field of sexual violence investigation including Investigators, DNA experts, psychosocial counsellors and other professionals.
The objective is to ensure that a victim of sexual violence gets all the services she needs once she enters the building.
The ISAT representative in Sierra Leone and training Advisor to SLP, Sally Taylor made a strong case for a ‘One-Stop Centre’ so that evidence would be preserved.
Madam Taylor made the statement during a quarterly meeting of Regional Commanders and Line Managers of the SLP Family Support Unit at the (FSU) headquarters in Freetown.
She said it was a model for the fight against sexual violence and that Britain had adopted it several years back.
In joining the campaign against sexual violence, several charitable organisations, Don Bosco, Defence for Children International, Advocaid Sierra Leone and World Vision have proved to be reckonable.
The organisations have not only done advocacies or awareness raising campaigns, but have used their financial and material resources to stop sexual violence in the country.
World Vision prides itself with a child protection unit, and its staff have flexed their muscles in helping the police to arrest and prosecute those suspected of sexual assault.
World Vision has been and is still active in the southern part of Sierra Leone where it has provided a lot of help to the police in the provision of logistics to expedite the work of FSU’s.
The aim is to ensure that perpetrators of sexual violence do not walk free.
In Freetown, Don Bosco, a local charitable organisation is building shelters in the Western Area Rural district where SGBV survivors would be housed and counselled.
On 28th July, this year, the Irish Ambassador, Mary O’Neill urged government that Covid-19 recovery plan must be based, among others, on human rights and sexual violence.
She made the appeal at the launch of ‘Team Europe’ at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development.
The call by the Irish Embassy is a tacit acceptance of the factual claim that sexual violence is still life threatening in Sierra Leone.
Public opinion and arguments hold that paedophiles and other perpetrators of SGBV have not been stopped.
The crime still continues as grim figures continue to rise.
The most alarming was the death of a five-year old who was allegedly sexually penetrated by men who currently face the court.
Sierra Leoneans still continue to wonder that in spite of all these strategies on SGBV’s, the crime has not been suppressed.