By Rebecca Wood | Executive Director
AdvocAid works towards the ambition that no woman or girl goes through trial without legal representation. Our team of paralegals make daily visits to police stations, correctional centres and courts to identify women and girls in conflict with the law in need of legal advice or representation. Every woman, regardless of her crime, circumstances, profession, ethnicity or sexual orientation, deserves equal access to justice.
AdvocAid met Ruth* during a routine visit to the Pademba Road Court. She had been charged with loitering and had spent almost a week in police custody before her case was brought before the magistrate. She didn’t have legal representation – our Legal Officer immediately took her case.
The offence of loitering is described in the 1965 Public Order Act as ‘Any person loitering in or about any stable house or building, under any piazza, or in the open air, and not having any visible means of subsistence and not giving a good account of himself..’ The definition is broad and prohibited conduct is vaguely defined. In Sierra Leone, loitering is an offence the police often use to arrest criminal sex workers. It is not uncommon for the police to demand sex in return for release, or ask for bribes. In Ruth’s case, the magistrate found her guilty of loitering and sentenced her either to one month in prison or a fine of 100,000 SLL (about $12). Unable to afford this fine, AdvocAid was able to pay this to the court on her behalf and secure her release.
AdvocAid has worked to raise awareness about the challenges commercial sex workers face, including abuse from the police force. We produced a documentary ‘Kolonko’ to highlight these issues and launched this online in 2018. It is with your help that we were able to represent Ruth in court and divert her away from incarceration.
In time, AdvocAid plans to conduct legal education sessions with commercial sex workers to ensure they are well-informed about their arrest and bail rights, and to support commercial sex workers file complaints when police officers violate their rights.
On behalf of the women and girls we work with, we thank you for your generosity. To get the latest news from AdvocAid please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and sign up to our newsletter via our website.
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