The Port Loko District Human Rights Committee (PLDHRC) is concerned with the increase in the incidences of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) with specific reference to sexual penetration of young girls in the district. A press release says the Port Loko HRC strongly and unequivocally condemns the increase in SGBV cases.
According to the release, the alleged incident of sexual penetration of an eight (8) year old girl child (being adjudicated at the Port Loko magistrate court), the recent alleged incident of sexual penetration of two young girls by a single individual (now under investigation at the Family Support Unit of the Port Loko Police division) and many more are troubling.
The PLDHRC considers such inhuman acts as a gross abuse of the fundamental rights of the child, adding: “This growing trend goes against International, Regional and National legal Instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRW), the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, the Child Rights Act 2007, the Sexual Offences Act 2012, etc.”
For its part, the Port Loko District Human Rights Committee in collaboration with other child protection organisations has been working to ensure perpetrators of such inhuman and degrading acts are brought before a competent court and punished according to law. Such gruesome and heinous acts go against fundamental African norms and values that place accountability for the development and well-being of every girl child as the primary responsibility of every family and community.
The PLDHRC also urges traditional, religious and opinion leaders at the district/community level to mobilise the people against all forms of SGBV. They say the press release would be considered in-conclusive “if we fail to applaud the effort of the current administration under the leadership of His Excellency Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio for his pronouncement of the state of emergency on rape and other forms of violence against women and young girls and the strengthening of the Sexual Offences Act 2012 which now amounts to life imprisonment, the establishment of a “ONE STOP CENTER” to look into cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence”.
They add, “The Port Loko District Human Rights Committee is now calling on the law enforcement agencies (SLP, Judiciary) to fully implement the law. The PLDHRC is also calling on all line Ministries, Departments and Agencies working for the protection of women and young girls vis-a-viz Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Port Loko District and City Councils, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, the Legal Aid Board, the Independent Police Complaint Board etc. to join the fight against the total eradication of Sexual and Gender Based Violence with specific reference to rape and Sexual Penetration.”
As an immediate action, the PLDHRC say they will convene an emergency meeting of all relevant institutions or organisations working for the protection of the rights of women and girls to agree on a joint district action plan against Sexual and Gender Based violence with special focus on Women and girls sexual abuse. “This is to galvanise immediate action across the North-West region towards stamping out this dangerous trend and ensuring that, every woman and girl child is protected now and forever,” says the release. OG/11/08/2020
By Ophaniel Gooding