FOREWORD

Laws that discriminate against women and girls drive the systemic denial of their human rights and block their advancement and empowerment. They prevent women and girls from accessing resources, opportunities and rights. When women and girls can live free from discrimination, with laws that protect their human rights, they realize their full potential and society benefits as a whole.

As a State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and numerous other international conventions that protect the rights of women and girls, Sierra Leone is committed to accelerate and lead progress on women’s rights. At the national level, the review, development, enactment and revision of a range of laws to tackle gender discrimination present a positive trend and demonstrate increased political will to reach gender equality. These included the enactment of the three Gender Acts, which respectively address domestic violence, women’s access to land through inheritance, and women’s rights in marriage and divorce. In addition, Sierra Leone also passed the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment policy in 2020 which aims to mainstream gender into all the national, sectoral and local policies, plans, budgets and programmes. The existence of these national laws and policies is a significant point of departure for women’s empowerment and provides the needed framework within which the government can address gender discrimination.

Despite the progress made in the area of legal reform, women and girls continue to face impediments to the recognition and full enjoyment of their rights. Laws on customary leadership, education, violence against women, political and public life, marriage, divorce and inheritance, are a few of those that have been identified as perpetuating discrimination against women and girls in the country. The repeal and revision of these laws, as well as the enactment of new gender equal laws can contribute to the alignment of Sierra Leone’s legislative framework with its international and regional obligations on gender equality and reaffirm the country’s strong and unwavering commitment to women’s empowerment and human rights. The need to eliminate discriminatory laws is of utmost concern not just in Sierra Leone but also globally. Over 2.5 billion women and girls around the world are affected by discriminatory laws and the lack of legal protections, often in multiple ways. In response, at the global level, inter-governmental, civil society and development partners, including UN Women and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), launched the “Equality in law for women and girls by 2030: A multi-stakeholder strategy for accelerated action” calling for urgent action to fast-track the repeal of discriminatory laws in six thematic areas: comprehensive reforms, women’s economic empowerment, minimum age of marriage provisions, nationality rights, discriminatory rape laws, and family and personal status laws. The focus area on comprehensive reform highlights the need to undertake a thorough analysis of national laws from a gender perspective and design roadmaps to guide reform processes.

In support of the strategy and the country’s commitment to gender equality, IDLO, UN Women and the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice of Sierra Leone through the Justice Sector Coordination Office (JSCO) have partnered to produce this legal assessment report. The assessment constitutes a comprehensive review of laws and policies in Sierra Leone aiming to identify the provisions which directly or indirectly discriminate against women and girls, and presents recommendations for repeal, reform, or amendment.

IDLO, UN Women, and the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice of Sierra Leone hope that the Government and relevant stakeholders will turn the recommendations of this report into action and guarantee the centrality of gender equality in all fields.

International Development Law Organization UN Women Justice Sector Coordination Office Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone