By Mohamed M. Sesay
The Deputy Head of European Union Delegation Jamila El Assaidi has on the 19th of March, commended the Government of Sierra Leone especially His Excellency the President Maada Bio, for the launch of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy. She described the feat as a step in the right direction in bringing women of Sierra Leone closer to leading the future.
Jamila El Assaidi made the comment during the official opening of the National Women’s Conference on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Sierra Leone at the New Brookfield’s Hotel Freetown.
She further described the policy as comprehensive insofar as it addresses wide ranging issues namely: the right priorities and challenges that are still in front of them in order to ensure more gender parity and effective empowerment of women: the need for political will and decisive political steer, the need for implementation and coherence of legal frameworks and policies, the need for gender mainstreaming, the need for funding, and the need for affirmative action.
She emphasized that discussion on the topic of women empowerment is also very timely in the context of the revival of the Constitutional Review. He added that the Government of Sierra Leone has made commitments to introduce the necessary provisions in the Constitution to ensure that a minimum percentage of women can get elected.
From the point of view of the EU, she said they believe that all political players should rally around the right proposals that would allow effective increase of women’s representation in elected positions.
She lamented that the EU budget specifically finances an Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), designed to support civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defence of human rights. In that respect, she said the EU has proudly joined forces with the 50/50 Group and Search for Common Ground for a project to empower women who are interested in pursuing political representation at local and national levels to be effective political actors in Sierra Leone.
In highlighting some of the achievements, Jamila El Assaidi acknowledged that 225 women have demonstrated their intention to run for public office and 131 have registered with their political parties ahead of the 2022 local council and 2023 parliamentary and presidential election. She added that the beneficiaries have confirmed that the trainings, stakeholder engagements, mentorship program and dialogue sessions are contributing to efforts that enhance their effective participation in political and public life in the project districts and also, the creation of the database of women in politics (WiPs) which has captured women of all categories interested in vying for political and public offices across the three districts. These efforts she stressed have the propensity to narrow the widening political gap in the country.
She pointed out that the objective of the policy is to improve the capacity and confidence of women to participate actively in political and public life; and to create an enabling environment for increased participation and leadership of female members of political parties as decision makers in the political structures.
She reiterated point that the EU places human rights at the centre of its relations with all third countries grounded on the acceptance of universal norms. She reaffirmed that the EU’s policy on human rights is adapted to the circumstances of each country, not least through the development of country specific human rights strategies.
“The recommendations from the 2018 EU Electoral Observation Mission report identified the need for improving the rights of women in the decision making process. This project is therefore a direct response to the recommendation. Let us take the time and reflect on the two objectives and some of the achievements,” she urged.