Mandate and Background
AdvocAid supports justice, education and reintegration for female detainees, and their children, in Sierra Leone. Founded in 2006, the organisation’s aim is to strengthen access to justice, including an increased ability to claim rights, for women and to empower them as active citizens through the provision of education, welfare and post-prison support.
The Legacy of Conflict
Sierra Leone continues to face the devastating social and economic effects of an 11-year conflict, which ended in 2002. Despite peaceful elections held in 2007, the country continues to sit at the bottom of the Human Development Index. Basic state structures and services have long been neglected and the majority of Sierra Leone’s citizens struggle to meet their daily needs on less than a dollar a day. Women face barriers in accessing education and formal work opportunities, although they do represent critical income earners for their families through activities such as petty-trading. In a disturbing trend, domestic violence has dramatically increased since the end of conflict.
Women in Conflict with the Law
As paralleled in the social and economic dynamics of the country, women face marginalisation within Sierra Leone’s legal system. Women’s imprisonment is closely related to poverty, both as the reason for women’s offences and because women most often cannot afford legal services or to pay fines or bail. Antiquated laws mean that too often women are imprisoned for allegations over small debts, including those incurred by their husbands, and other petty crimes. Most women in detention tend to have a background of physical and emotional abuse or mental health problems. Women are often primary or sole carers and their incarceration can have a devastating effect on their family, particularly on young children. Many women are detained with very young children. Women are often abandoned by their families once arrested due to the social stigma or simply because of distances, leaving them with no one to advocate for them or to assist.
Though there are recent efforts to provide some legal aid services, the need for legal representation and advice is still extensive, especially in the provinces. The overwhelming majority of detainees still go without representation: many months if not years are spent needlessly on remand, prisoners face excessive sentences, appeals are not lodged and wrongful convictions go without redress.
As a consequence, the prison system suffers from overcrowding, a lack of specific facilities for women and their children and a deficiency of basic welfare services.
