Sierra Leone

The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law – Sierra Leone (CARL-SL) welcomed the Sierra Leone Parliament’s enactment of the Sexual Offences Act 2012.  In March this year, CARL-SL called on the Sierra Leone Government to step up efforts at enacting both the Sexual Offences Bill and the Legal Aid Bill. The fact that both bills have now been passed into law is significant, and CARL-SL would like to commend the Parliament of Sierra Leone for its timely enactment of the Sexual Offences Act.  

The author shows that female circumcision is not confined to the Horn of Africa, or the Muslim areas of the continent. Her study of the practice in Sierra Leone demonstrates its important role in the traditional initiation of females into both womanhood and society in parts of West Africa. The material sets out detailed and practical proposals for a 20 year programme to end “the crippling of women by this operation”.

29 March to 27 April 2010 (Global): The witchcraft epidemic in Africa is fueled by religious extremism. Practitioners of traditional African religions, traditional healers, witch-doctors and Christian missionaries and religious leaders incite witch-hunts on this continent. There are comparisons to be made between Africas current witch-craze, European Inquisitions and American witch-hunts. Perhaps the lessons to be learned in Africa are the same as those that needed to be learned by Europeans and Americans; there is no culture without human rights. All men and women, including Witches, have the right to live without being falsely accused, assaulted, persecuted or murdered.