Q. What new legal protections are provided under the Gender Acts?

 A. Sierra Leone operates under three sets of law: formal law, customary law and Muslim law.  The three Gender Acts—the Domestic Violence Act, the Devolution of Estates Act and the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act—provide protection to women under all three types of law.

 The Domestic Violence Act is the first formal law in Sierra Leone to address domestic violence per se.  Prior to the Act’s passage, domestic violence could be prosecuted under the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1861 as wounding or grievous bodily harm, but domestic violence was not a criminal offense in itself.  In 2006, there was only one conviction under formal law of a crime related to domestic violence.  Under customary law domestic violence was legal as long as it is “reasonable”—meaning no wounding occurred.  Just because the law did not cover domestic violence, however, does not mean it is was accepted in all parts of Sierra Leone.  There’s a common phrase regarding domestic violence in many small villages that translates to “she was not given you to beat her like a drum”.  Although a special unit (the ‘family support unit’) was established in 2001 within the Sierra Leone Police to deal with incidents relating to the family, and the vast majority of reported cases involved domestic violence, the unit has arguably made few inroads into addressing the issue. Without the support of the law, mediators within the Units found they could do little more than call up the victim’s husband and beg him to allow her to return home - a situation which unit staff members report to find very dissatisfactory.

The new law makes domestic violence a criminal offense, and strengthens the ability of the police and Family Support Units to respond to domestic violence.  People can also bring civil proceedings under the law, for example seeking protection orders.  The law provides a broad definition of domestic violence, including economic abuse (unreasonably withholding or destroying the other person’s financial resources); harassment; emotional, verbal or psychological abuse; intimidation; physical abuse and sexual abuse.  Marital rape will become an offence under the Act.  The broad definition has its pros and cons. On the one hand it will prevent judges from claiming that an act of domestic violence is not sufficiently grievous to fall under the law.  At the same time, the definition may be so broad as to be uncertain.

Prior to the passage of the Devolution of Estates Act, the law governing intestate succession varied across the three types of law.  Under formal law, wives only received 30 percent of their deceased husband’s property while a husband would receive 100 percent of a deceased wife’s property.   Under Muslim law, women were not entitled to administer estates and there was no legal guidance as to how property was to be distributed.  Provisions under customary law varied across the country, but generally marital property reverted to the husband’s family.  Widows are often ejected from the family home with their children.  In these cases, if they wish to remain in the home, they are often required to marry the deceased husband’s brother.  Under the new law, surviving spouses of either gender are entitled to remain in the family home until they die; it is now a criminal offense to eject them from the home.  Husbands and wives now inherit property from each other equally, and male and female children also inherit equally when a parent dies without a will.  Certain property under customary law still cannot be passed to a widow, but it remains a criminal offense to eject her from the home she shared with her husband during marriage.

Finally, the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act still has some legal issues to be ironed out before it becomes law, but it should set 18 as the legal age for marriage, require consent of both parties for a marriage to be lawful, and provide that applications can be made for spousal and child maintenance of a reasonable level. This reinforces recent similar provisions made in the Child Rights Act 2007. The Act also requires that marriages be registered. Many women in Sierra Leone consider this latter provision to be particularly significant since men currently frequently abandon their wife for another woman and claim they are not legally bound to support her because they were not married.  The Act should also state that dowry and gifts given in the marriage do not have to be returned upon divorce, a provision which should stop the current practice of women being tied into an unhappy marriage because her family cannot afford to pay her way out.

What was the process of passing the Acts through Parliament?

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) originally funded two groups to draft the bills—the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee and the Law Reform Commission.  The problem was that these groups did not coordinate the drafting process and thus produced two different versions of the same bill.  The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) was not taking the initiative to create a standard set of bills or push them through Parliament, so a coalition of NGOs and other organizations known as the ‘coalition on the gender bills’ came together to push the process forward.  I worked with the coalition to track down the bills, lobby the government to prioritze their enactment, provide training to women throughout the country on the provisions contained in the draft legislation, and provide legal support to the editing process.  Once the bills were printed, then-President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah issued an executive order so that the bills could be automatically passed by cabinet, and a certificate of urgency so that Parliament would be obliged to hold all three readings of the bills in one sitting.  There was a lot of pressure at the time to pass the bills quickly before the dissolution of Parliament and the national elections, and in the event the bills were passed in one day, led by the Minister of Social Welfare, just two days before Parliament dissolved for the elections. 

What factors created a favorable environment for passing the Acts?

Women in Sierra Leone have been demanding these laws since Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961.  Sierra Leone ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1988 but did not pass any legislation to domesticate the rights contained in the convention.  Sierra Leone is at the bottom of the Gender-related Development Index and donor pressure had also been building for some time. In the short term there was pressure to fast track the process from the coalition on the gender bills, which comprised representatives from Action Aid, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone, and local NGOs such as GEMS and the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme.  Government officials received additional pressure from the international community and local Sierra Leonean NGOs when they traveled to New York in May 2007 to defend the country’s CEDAW report at the United Nations.

Additionally, as the national Parliamentary elections [which took place in August 2007] drew near, political parties wanted to accomplish something that would appeal to women voters, who made up 48 percent of the electorate.  The coalition of organizations working on the bills lobbied MPs individually and in groups, and ensured that hundreds of women from across the country came to Parliament for the debates, wearing white, showing MPs that it was an issue close to the heart of women throughout Sierra Leone. This show of solidarity put a lot of pressure on the MPs close to the elections to pass the bills.

Now that the Acts have been passed, what are the steps that need to be taken to make sure they are implemented?

The coalition that worked to pass the bills is now working to keep the momentum and partnership going to push forward implementation efforts.  Already, implementation of the Gender Acts has been mainstreamed into the justice sector’s three year strategy.  It has also been prioritized in the UN Peacebuilding Commission Framework for engagement in Sierra Leone.

There is still a lot to be done, however, to make sure people are working together and not duplicating each other’s efforts.   A lot of groups, for example, are organizing training sessions across the country on the Gender Acts.  We need to make sure that these organizations are disseminating correct information about the Acts and that they are prepared to answer common questions the communities will pose.  It would be helpful to have a coordinating session both to map out where different organizations are working, discuss strategy and formulate a common training program and answers to frequently asked questions.

At the local level, education will be a major part of implementation.  Training needs to be held for family support unit staff, local councils, hospital staff and traditional leaders such as local and paramount chiefs on their responsibilities under the law and what their constituents should expect. Education sessions will also be held with local community leaders and members to educate them on their rights and mobilize them to promote implementation in the course of everyday dispute resolution.  Mechanisms also need to be developed to monitor implementation of the Acts and report back to a central body.

At the higher level, steps need to be taken to strengthen the Ministry of Social Welfare, which is charged with leading implementation, and the Family Support Units of the Police.  The Ministry of Social Welfare, for example, has the largest portfolio of any government department but the smallest budget.  In 2006, its budget was 500,000 USD, which mostly covered staff costs.  The Ministry is supposed to have offices and social workers operating across the country, but it does not have the capacity to carry out significant projects.  Social workers often go unpaid, and without transport or communication allowances struggle to attend to their communities.  In addition to lacking financial resources, the Ministry suffers from poor internal communication of information.  The Director of Gender, for example, never even received a copy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report.  Finally, the Ministry has little clout in the government, which is generally male dominated and little interested in “women’s issues.” Many of the Ministry’s functions should be carried out by other government agencies with oversight and coordination from the Ministry: unfortunately, the Ministry is currently not exerting such oversight and in practice most programmes required by its mandate are not being effectively carried out. Real financial and human resources need to be put into the Ministry to strengthen its position in the government and to build the morale and capacity of its staff to tackle its work.

The Family Support Units of the Police are potentially a very positive force for implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, and many people within the FSU are eager to work on this issue.  Like the Ministry of Social Welfare the FSU needs support in terms of skills building and funding.  Now that the FSU has the law it needs to prosecute domestic violence, its staff need to be trained in investigation and prosecution as well as how to monitor cases.  It is also important for the FSU to receive sufficient funding to follow-up with cases.

We’ve covered a lot of the challenges that will be faced with implementation.  Are there other challenges you would like to highlight?

Implementation will require real mobilization of local community members.  Women already know the problems in their communities.  There need to be extensive consultations with local women to discuss which implementation strategies will work and which will not.  These women know what will be accepted in their community and how to sell these bills.  Men also need to be at the heart of implementation.  Right now most of the implementers are women.  Paramount chiefs need to lead the way on the Acts, and encouragingly many of them have been supportive so far. 

Finally, we need to be aware of community attitudes toward gender based violence.  In many communities there is a perception among both men and women that women who dress a certain way are “asking” to be raped.  This is common even at the highest levels. During discussion of the bills in Parliament, for example, the Minister responsible for Gender suggested that it would be important to pass a dress code law that would prohibit women from wearing certain “provocative” clothing, as a means of reducing the escalating scale of sexual violence, which law would also prohibit men from wearing clothing generally considered to belong to women, such as earrings.  Additionally, one MP expressed concern that the dowry must be returned by the wife’s family in order for a marriage to end, as the whole purpose of the provision was to ensure that the woman didn’t run away from the marriage. ‘How are we going to stop them running away?’ he asked.  Well, yes, that was the original purpose of the requirement, answered the Speaker of Parliament, but that was precisely what the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act was trying to change.  Even at the highest, most educated levels, there is still significant progress to be made.

I laugh, protesting that I have indeed been to the east side of town, but I agree that it would be a welcome change to meet them at the apartment on Mountain Cut Road where they are staying.

Wednesday evening I phone my driver, Sheriff, and ask him to pick me up at 8:00pm.  He picks me up just after 8, and I give him the apartment address.

"Now you're going to my neighborhood," he notes.  "You have friends on the east side!"

Mountain Cut Road is located off Kissy Road, one of the major commercial thoroughfares in eastern Freetown.  While much of the west side shines at night from the generator-produced light of expat and middle class Sierra Leonean homes and businesses, the east, in some ways, feels more alive.  Men, women, boys and girls teem from the shops, tiny bars and  homes that crowd and lean precariously against the edge of the road.  Some shops are fortunate to have a generator but most buildings and street stands are lit by flickering kerosene lamps. 

Eastern Freetown is the most densely populated part of town, and it is also the area most affected by the rebels' invasion in 1999.  Later that night, when I am driving home and most people have left the streets, I will feel like I am in a western ghost town--streets lined with shuttered general stores and second floor balconied apartments pockmarked with scars from the war and covered with dust from the seasonal harmattan wind.  For now, though, the streets are full and bustling with almost overwhelming activity.  Mountain Cut is so clogged with pedestrians that our vehicle can barely inch forward. 

As we drive down Mountain Cut Sheriff and I both lean forward, trying to spot number 15--the home of Dr. Mohammed Barrie, the Sierra Leonean doctor who runs the health NGO Dan started here.  Most of the buildings are unmarked and we end up back tracking several times and asking for directions.  At one point, Sheriff gets out of the car and my eyes follow him as he disappears into the crowd.  I feel very conspicuous--not only am I the only foreigner around but I am sitting in a bit white NGO-owned SUV.  Maybe I should have chartered a taxi, I think to myself.

Sheriff comes back with directions and we find a parking spot on a side street.  We climb out of the car, pick our way up the broken pavement to the main road and ask a group of young men on the corner if they know Dr. Barrie.  They point to a glowing store front a few buildings down, where we are met by a short, round man--Dr. Barrie.

"So you are Dan and Anne's friend," he says, shaking my hand.  As Sheriff excuses himself, Dr. Barrie leads me to the side entrance of the building and we climb the stairs.  The store generator lights the first two floors of the building, but as we rise the power goes out and we are enveloped in darkness.  We reach the apartment and the door is answered by a young female relative of Dr. Barrie's carrying a candle.  The apartment is dark but lovely with gracely arched entryways and a wide balcony. 

Dan and Anne come to greet me, and along with Dr. Barrie we carry chairs and cold beers from a bar below upstairs to the roof.  We begin to discuss our experiences in Sierra Leone and the health NGO that Dr. Barrie and Dan started one year ago.  Anne is in the country as a program intern until April as she applies to medical school.  The NGO, the Global Action Foundation, has two components.  The first is a clinic in Kono District near Guinea that provides free medical services to war amputees and their families.  Kono District is one of the most war-ravaged districts in the country, is a center of the country's mining industry and has one of the highest concentrations of war amputees in Sierra Leone.  The clinic opened on January 20, 2008, and receives funding from the U.S. embassy.  Prior to the opening of the center services were provided in a mobile clinic.  The clinic is open to all community members, and to date about 1,600 people have received services, including 500 amputees, war disabled and their dependents.

The second component is a child survival program, known as the "Severely Malnourished Project" based in Port Loko.  This district, just east of Freetown, has the highest prevalence of severaly malnourished children in the country.  With support from UNICEF, the program has provided therapeutic milk formula to the Port Loko hospital and has trained 480 local women as health promoters.  Dr. Barrie explained that the program initially trained a core group of women to conduct house visits to identify severaly malnourished children.  These women have, in turn, trained other women to perform the same tasks.  Once children are identified as potentially severely malnourished they are referred to the local Peripheral Health Unit (PHU), which conducts the height for weight assessment to determine the level of malnourishment.  Severely malnourished children are then referred from the PHU to the program's partners at the hospital for treatment.

While the child survival program has had many successes, it has run up against several challenges, Dr. Barrie explained.  The PHUs, for example, charge referred patients for services, and most Sierra Leoneans simply cannot afford to pay.  I have seen this problem before with other NGO projects; even when the NGO provides the PHU with money for drugs and supplies to prevent patients from being charged, they are still usually forced to pay.  Dr. Barrie also reported that it can be a challenge to make sure that equipment does not go missing from the PHUs, another problem I have repeatedly heard about. 

Overall, though, Dan, Anne and Dr. Barrie are upbeat about their work.  In addition to the new health center for war disabled, plans are underway to eventually bring on a senior nurse and six community-trained nurses in Port Loko to provide basic services to severely malnourished children.  Monitoring and evaluation is taking place to determine how to make the programs more effective.  

Sitting on that roof, watching the lights flicker out across the hills as the night wears on and exchanging ideas and information about this work, I feel suddenly energized and hopeful about the possibilities for creating real change for people in Sierra Leone.   It's about midnight, and Sheriff is back to pick me up.  I arrange to meet Anne and Dan once they are back from Kono the next week and assure them that I will be visiting their new health center soon.

In the next month I will travel to Kono in the east of the country to observe IRC's child survival program and to visit a new community health center that two fellow Princetonians, Dan Kelly and Anne Kern, are working with Sierra Leonean partners to set up.  The health situation in this country is dire.  According to the World Bank, 42.4 percent of the already small number of doctors trained in Sierra Leone emigrate to find work, as do 48.9 percent of the nurses trained here.  There are fewer than 10 surgeons for the entire country.  Sierra Leone ranks 177 out of 177 in the UN's human development index.  One in four children die before the age of five, the worst infant mortality rate in the world.  Sierra Leoneans generally have to pay for the basic health services that would save many of these children's lives, but they do not have the money.  Despite these numbers, Sierra Leone didn't even make it onto USAID's priority country list when it put out a recent call for proposals for new child survival grants (speaking of donor politics...). 

On a brighter note, there are many Sierra Leoneans returning from the diaspora to contribute to the country's social and economic development.  Later this week I will be writing about Yeniva Sisay, a Sierra Leonean raised in the States who has returned to start an education initiative called Sierra Visions that offers after school programs to students.  For a sneak peak, visit her blog at http://www.honeymag.com/modules/sierravisions/.

Today, the building houses Diaspora, a new café and bookshop, run by Tamara Cummings-John, a young Sierra Leonean woman who grew up in the house with her maternal grandmother before the start of the civil war in the 1990s.

“I was born in Great Britain, but I lived in Freetown with my grandmother and extended family until I was nine,” Tamara says.  She is curled up on an overstuffed sofa in the café munching on traditional Krio groundnut cakes, and she glances affectionately around the room as she talks.  “Growing up here was very special to me, so last year when the tenants left and I had come back to work in Freetown I thought it was time for me to start this business.”

Tamara studied French and law in Great Britain, but she returned to Sierra Leone in September 2006, after a stint with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), to work with the Special Court, the country’s war crimes tribunal formed by the UN and the Sierra Leonean government.  With a steady job, Tamara’s mind turned to what else she could do to support her hometown, and the idea for a café that would serve as a meeting point for Sierra Leoneans from a range of backgrounds was born.

Diaspora opened on December 21, 2007.  The café serves a mix of baked goods, Sierra Leonean dishes (the cassava leaf is popular and affordable, as is the jollof rice and chicken) and Western dishes with a Sierra Leonean twist.  Given the high cost of eating out in Freetown the prices are excellent, ranging from 5,000-25,000 Leones (about $2 to $8).  Tamara also places a premium on health.  Sierra Leonean dishes are delicious but often unhealthy because of high use of palm oil, she explained.  Diaspora’s cook works to provide great tasting, authentic dishes while working with healthier ingredients.  The restaurant also uses local rather than imported produce to support local agriculture, Tamara points out.

Restaurant-goers can enjoy their food on the screened-in porch looking out on Priscilla Street or at one of the cozy couches in the café.  Inside they can also browse three shelves of new books—ranging from cookbooks to New York Times bestsellers to literary masterpieces from (fittingly) the African diaspora.  Customers can request the café order additional books, and a fourth shelf of used books is available for borrowing.  Customers can purchase memberships that allow them to borrow books and access internet at the café.   Plans are underway to launch a kongosa tik or “gossip tree”—a notice board that will list community events and announcements—and a guest book that will help returning Sierra Leoneans and expats know who else is in town.

In its first month of business, Diaspora has attracted employees of local businesses, Sierra Leoneans visiting or returning from abroad and expatriate customers.  For Tamara and her business partners—a number of Sierra Leonean friends, several of whom also spent much of their life abroad, and a British friend—it’s important for Diaspora to cater to the range of people living in Freetown and to make a positive contribution to the community.

“My partners and I don’t see this as just a profit-making venture,” Tamara said.  “We want to set a new standard for employers in Sierra Leone—to be a profitable business that does not overcharge customers and that pays its employees a good salary.  We want the place to be accessible to a range of people in Freetown, and we want our employees to feel that they have a stake in this business.”

While restaurant employee in Freetown generally makes between 100,000 and 200,000 Leones a month (between $33 and $67), Diaspora’s employees make between 210,000 and 1.5 million Leones a month (between $70 and $500), Tamara said.  Tamara and her business partners have also introduced a bonus plan for their employees.  When the business reaches its sales target a percentage of the profit is distributed to each employee.

According to Tamara, her work is not unique among her peers in Sierra Leone.  With the return of peace, many young professional Sierra Leoneans are returning from abroad as business and social entrepreneurs.

“You never meet Sierra Leoneans who have returned from abroad who are just working in normal jobs,” Tamara said.  “We all have special projects.  We want to make a significant contribution to this country.”