By: Ilyasa Baa
The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone is currently engaging market women, okada riders,teachers, students, women engaged in agriculture, atire bases in Makeni, Bo,Kenema, Port Loko and Waterloo where their regional offices are located.
These spontaneous community engagement meetings are being carried out by the Gender and Children’s Unit of the Commission which was in Makeni on Sunday and Monday, Tuesday, they were in Port Loko and the other regions will be reached the following days as scheduled.
It is expected that the message being cascaded will embolden citizens to stand for their rights and report human right abuses. “The Gender Equality Act, the Child Right Act, Customary Land Right Acts, Person’s with Disability Act as well as the 30% cota for women’s representation in both elective and appointive positions are the things we are explaining to them”, a staff of the Commission briefed this medium.
Though the Commission has not done any simplified versions of these acts, the message is passed in Krio which is the local parlance. In the provinces, market women and vegetable planters are given the opportunity to ask questions relating to human rights in their mothers’ tongues which makes it easier for them to know their rights and responsibilities.
If the promise from the Commission is anything to go by, the simplified versions will be readily available soon; as they are working on it so that citizens will easily understand the provisions of the laws passed in their favour.
However, these acts were printed in black and white handed over to the beneficiaries especially those that cannot read and write so their children will read through and contact the regional offices when the need arises.
With these human rights lectures across the country, it is also expected that the women, especially those doing business will know their rights to access loans and own land like any other citizen of Sierra Leone.
Over the years the women and children’s unit has carried out several activities such as developing documents that have contributed tremendously to ensuring the realization of women and children’s rights in the country. Notable among these include
the development of a Gender Policy for HRCSL, the development of a Training Manual on the Sierra Leone Gender Justice Law for use by Human Rights Workers,
publishing and launching of a thematic report on Women and Children, titled “Road to Gender Equality and Status of Women and Children in Sierra Leone”, 2007-2008. In collaboration with Save the Children, the unit was able to produce ‘’The State of Children’s Rights Report 2017.”