Access to Justice for 500 Women in Sierra Leone

Anita’s Story

Anita* was taken to the police station by Michael*, who alleged that she had stolen his phone worth Le 800,000 (approx. $105). AdvocAid’s paralegal met the two, and sat with them to try and mediate the situation. It transpired that Michael had hired Anita for her services as a commercial sex worker at an agreed on a price of Le 250,000 (approx. $33). When the time came for Michael to pay Anita, he refused to pay this amount, only giving her Le 100,000 (approx. $13). Before she left Michael’s house, Anita took his phone, to compensate for the loss she had suffered. Not knowing how much the phone was worth, she sold it for Le 150,000 (approx. $20). At the police station, AdvocAid’s paralegal gave legal advice to both parties, and Michael agreed to drop the case, and accept the loss of his phone as fair compensation for refusing to pay Anita the right price. Anita was cautioned and released on the same day.

Since this project opened, we have raised enough money to provide legal assistance and education to over 70 women and girls like Anita in police stations across Sierra Leone. AdvocAid is currently the only organisation in Sierra Leone conducting daily monitoring of police stations to provide legal aid to women and girls. Paralegal intervention through advice, mediation and advocating on behalf of our clients often resolves the conflict at the point of arrest, without having the matter charged to court. This allows women and girls to get on with their lives without the stress of dealing with a court case, pre-trial detention in Correctional Centres, and the stigma associated with ex-detainees in Sierra Leone. 

AdvocAid have recently welcomed a new Legal Officer to our Freetown office. Cheryl Sembie comes to AdvocAid with many years of experience in the legal sector of Sierra Leone. AdvocAid are especially pleased to have Cheryl on board, as we have been without a Legal Officer for more than a year because of funding constraints. Cheryl will be overseeing and working to improve our legal work with our paralegals and lawyers. She will also represent clients in court, and review cases for strategic litigation. This marks a huge increase in AdvocAid’s capacity to assist even more women and girls every day. AdvocAid would like to thank our donors and supporters for their continued support, as it is people like you who make the difference in these financially unstable times.

In 2016, we raised almost $25,000. It is still vitally important that we keep this momentum from our 10^th Anniversary year going, if we want to help more women and girls like Anita. With funders allocating less money to Sierra Leone in these post-Ebola times, private donors are more important now than ever before! Please forward this report to your contacts and encourage them to donate to this, or one of our other GlobalGiving projects.

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*Anita’s name has been changed to protect her identity