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 AFROL
Gender Profiles:
Sierra
Leone
In practical terms Sierra Leone probably is the poorest country of the
world due to the ravaging civil war and the terrorist activities of the RUF. Under these harsh living
conditions for both men and women, producing hundreds of thousands refugees and internally displaced persons, it is difficult to differentiate between women's rights and human rights in general.
Women and children are however known to be the principal war victims, often
submitted to rape, sexual slavery, forced labour, torture, mutilation and forced
recrutiation by the RUF, known to use terror against the civil population as one
of their principal war tactics. There is now some hope of peace in the country,
where the biggest UN peacekeeping force in history is present.
Social data
Life expectancy: Total population: 45,25 years
male: 42,37 years
female: 48,21 years (2000 est.)
Infant mortality: 316/1.000 (numbers are highly diverging, reflecting the
poor access to verifiably data from war ravaged Sierra Leone)
Alphabetization rate: Total population: 31,4%
male: 45,4%
female: 18,2% (1995 est.)
Medical services: 36% of the people have access to medical services.
Sex ratio: at birth: 1,03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 0,96 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0,92 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1 male(s)/female
total population: 0,94 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data: Muslim 60%, traditional African religions 30%, Christian 10%
Family and tradition
The Constitution provides for equal rights for women, but in practice women face both legal and societal discrimination. In particular their rights and status under traditional law vary significantly depending on the ethnic group to which they belong. The Temne and Limba tribes of the north afford greater rights to women to inherit property than does the Mende tribe, which gives preference to male heirs and unmarried daughters. However, in the Temne tribe, women cannot become paramount chiefs. In the south, the Mende tribe has a number of female paramount chiefs. Women are nevertheless very active in civic organizations and NGO's, were instrumental in pressuring the previous government to allow free and fair multiparty elections in 1996, and were vocal representatives of civil society during the peace talks in Lome.
Gender sensitivity in society
Women do not have equal access to education, economic opportunities, health facilities, or social freedoms. In rural areas, women perform much of the subsistence farming and have little opportunity for formal education. The average educational level for women is markedly below that of men: only 6 percent are literate. At the university level, men predominate. Women are very active in civic and philanthropic organizations, and a significant number are employed as civil servants.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination against women and provides for protection against discrimination on the basis of race and
ethnicity.
Health data
Access to potable water: 34%
Medical services: 36% of the people have access to medical services.
Maternal mortality rate: 1.800/100.000
Infant mortality: 316/1.000 (numbers are highly diverging, reflecting
the poor access to verifiably data from war ravaged Sierra Leone)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): 90% of girls undergo the practice of FGM.
The form practiced is excision.
Women do not have equal access to health facilities.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), which is condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, is widely practiced among all levels of society, although with varying frequency. The form practiced is excision. Some estimates of the percentage of women and girls who undergo the practice range as high as 80 to 90 percent. While UNICEF estimates the percentage of females who have undergone this procedure to be as high as 90 percent, local groups believe that this figure is overstated. No law prohibits FGM. A number of NGO's are working to inform the public about the harmful health effects of FGM and to eradicate it; however, an active mass campaign by secret societies countered the well-publicized international efforts against FGM.
Violence against women
Violence against women, especially wife beating, is common. The police are unlikely to intervene in domestic disputes except in cases involving severe injury or death. Domestic violence is not recognized as a societal problem. However, rape is recognized as a societal problem punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. There is a significant amount of prostitution: many women, especially those displaced from their homes and with few resources, resort to it to secure income for themselves and their children. Rebel forces used rape as a terror tactic
and forced women and girls to act as sexual slaves. See special note on the
civil war below.
No law prohibits trafficking in persons. There were no reports of persons being trafficked to or from the country; however, rebel forces
kidnapped young boys and girls, forcibly impressed them, and compelled the children to serve them and to perform as sexual slaves.
Women also were forced to act as sexual slaves.
Notes on the Civil War
The civil war in Sierra Leone has had a severe impact on all civilians. However,
women and children have been the most exposed victims to violence and murder by
the terrorist Revolutionary United Front (RUF), but also by government forces.
In 2000, the more than 200.000 Sierra Leonean refugees in neighbouring Guinea
has also fallen victim to assaults by rebels infiltrating Guinea, Guinean
government and Guinean civilians.
Research done by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has uncovered a disturbing number of cases of rape by RUF fighters in the town of Makeni and other areas under their control.
"Women in RUF-controlled areas are at constant risk of being abducted and
raped," a HRW report concluded in 2000. Eyewitnesses and survivors who have fled RUF-controlled areas have provided detailed accounts of widespread looting, rape, abduction, killings and mutilations by RUF forces. Human Rights Watch has interviewed more than one dozen women who were themselves raped by RUF fighters.
The RUF has a long history of abducting children, using child
soldiers and keeping girls as sex slaves. Children have been abducted by the RUF in
even in year 2000 to carry military equipment and looted goods, and female abductees are regularly
raped, a HRW report concludes. Rape of captured women and girls is routine, the
report states. Twenty-year-old "Miriam" (not her real name), still nursing her five-month-old baby, was raped in front of her husband almost as soon as they were captured near Masiaka on May
21 2000. She told Human Rights Watch that she was raped almost continuously by seven RUF fighters, including some as young as fourteen, over the next three days.
Some of the girls raped after capture are very young, the report concludes.
Due to these extreme violations of human rights in Sierra
Leone, especially by the RUF terrorists, over 100.000 women have fled to Guinea.
Since August 2000, however, their security in Guinea has been diminishing.
Several rapes, even gang rapes, were reported after the 9 September assaults by
Guinean security forces, police and civilians on Sierra Leonean refugees. Among the ten rape victims interviewed
by HRW were a 14-year-old girl and a mother with a three-month-old baby. Victims and witnesses said Guinean police and army officers were present during some of the attacks, and sometimes participated.
Since these attacks, refugees have started returning to Sierra Leone.
Main sources: U.S. Department of State, CIA,
UN, HRW, Mundo negro
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