By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug 6 (232News) – Girls Connekt Africa, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Habiba Coker has said besides the continued threat and reality of sexual violence, adolescent girls in Sierra Leone are also forced to endure the threat of child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation and sexual exploitation.
She said that they are also seeing an emerging trend of increased online sexual abuse and violence, targeting many adolescent girls in the country.
“Unfortunately the status of our audit on the rights of girls shows a report that is wanting.”
Habiba Coker was among speakers during a joint press conference organized by Defence for Children- Sierra Leone, Child Rights Coalition, Child Welfare Society- Sierra Leone and Women Against Violence in Society (WAVES) on May 18, 2021 at the Child Welfare Society Fort Street.
She continued to say on March 30, 2020, the government of Sierra Leone announced that it had lifted the discriminatory ban it had put in place prohibiting pregnant school girls from attending school.
This announcement, she added signalled the start of a new dawn for many adolescent girls in the country, specifically those who had become pregnant whilst in school.
“What was even better is that the government did announce that it planned to promulgate two policies to address the underlying drivers of adolescent pregnancies and sexual violation of our children more specifically under the proposed National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Education and Comprehensive Safety Policy.”
She went on to say it has been more than a year now since this announcement was made and it is therefore a pivotal moment for them to reflect and see whether or not adolescent girls in Sierra Leone have unrestricted access to education and whether or not they and their counterparts are free from sexual and gender based violence as barriers to their education and their future.
“We have to say that so far, the Institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to provide justice for survivors of sexual violence in the country are woefully under-resourced including the Family Support Unit of Sierra Leone Police service which receives $100 for countrywide operations each quarter.”
She said in addition, the government has yet to put in place policy measures to reverse the negative social attitudes that support the discrimination and bias against pregnant girls in addition to taking other concrete steps to realize this vision.
“As champions of girls’ and women’s rights, we feel that the time has come for the government of Sierra Leone to prioritize realization of the rights of adolescent girls moving from rhetoric to action.”
