November 8, 2016 By Emmanuel Okyne (Intern)
Director of Gender Affairs of the Sierra Leone Police has disclosed that there is a record increase in sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) cases in the Western Area from January to June 2016.
Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Elizabeth Turay made the above disclosure last Thursday during the launch of the Parliamentary Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women and Children in Sierra Leone.
She said the Western Area alone recorded 897 domestic violence cases, 1,065 sexual penetration and 36 cases of rape within January and June 2016.
“Overall statistics of GBV cases for the whole of 2014 was 2, 024 ,while 2,098 cases were recorded in 2015.I want to assure stakeholders that we would work as a team to achieve our goals in stamping out violence against women and children. The FSU [Family Support Unit] before now had 48 centres across the country, but we have increased it to 67,” she said.
AIG Turay said the launch of the Parliamentary Action Plan on GBV was significant as it would help their work and collaborate with other stakeholders in crime prevention in communities, adding that such an initiative was timely in promoting the rights of vulnerable groups.
Country Representative for UN Women, Mary Ukumu, noted that the Action Plan would create opportunities for lawmakers to copy best practices from countries that have good initiatives aimed at preventing violence against women and children.
Madam Ukumu said children were engaged in stone mining, fishing and sand mining, which she said constitute fundamental abuse of their rights, adding that the partnership with Parliament would help mitigate some of the challenges women face in the country.
“UN women would be funding some aspects of the Action Plan because resources are very important for the implementation of the Action Plan,” she said and called on all to participate in the process.
Minority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Dr. Bernadette Lahai, said women and children were critical for the development of any country, adding that in Africa, women make up 50 percent of the population.
Hon. Dr. Lahai asserted that Sierra Leone has come a long way by enacting laws to protect women and children, although women still face a lot of challenges in the country.
She further noted that laws meant for the protection of women and children should take effect and that people should be punished for violating those laws.
UNICEF Country Representative Geoff Wiffin said the Action Plan came about after they engaged Members of Parliament at the Bintumani Hotel to discuss violence against women and children in the country.
Wiffin said the alliance was critical to ending violence against vulnerable groups, who he said had been suffering in silence.
He said statistics shows that the situation was getting worse, thus the need to respond swiftly by providing resources.
Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Children and Gender Affairs, Nenneh Turay, said it was not by coincidence that the Action Plan came into being, stating that the month of November was declared for women’s activism across the globe.
She said violence against women and children was a global phenomenon, adding that vulnerable groups should be protected.