By Joanna Howarth | Communications Lead
This report comes with the exciting news, that between January and October 2015, our paralegals have provided legal aid to 985 girls and women - 940 women and 45 juveniles. With just one month left of 2015, we hope to reach 1,000 girls and women supported this year.
You can help us achieve this by making a donation to this project today.
This case load has been managed between seven paralegals, meaning that with your support, they’re each providing critical legal aid and assistance to on average, three women a day.
AdvocAid’s paralegals provide advice, support detainees with securing bail (a process fraught with corruption and delays) travel to liaise with family members, support the process of all paperwork and then monitor former detainees to ensure they keep all of their police and/or court dates.
One of our Paralegals for Freetown, Sia, has recently provided support to Amity (29) and Workay (48) who have been released from the Freetown female correctional centre (all names in this case study have been changed).
Domestic Violence against women remains rife in Sierra Leone. As the more vulnerable sex, and in a society where women are often seen as inferior, it is not unusual for relatives to be violent towards women and girls. For a generation that lived through the war years, violence is often resorted to far too quickly, to solve petty disputes. This is found to be the case of both men and women, with AdvocAid supporting numerous cases where women are accused of violence.
AdvocAid’s paralegal, Sia, met Amity and Workay at the Freetown Magistrate Court lock-up, on the offence of Domestic Violence – they were accused of using abusive language towards the complainant – a relative. They were imprisoned for two weeks for this offence.
Two weeks away from their children and livelihoods for abusive language!
Amity lived with her brother, aunt – Workay – and Workay’s husband Mus. During the Ebola crisis, Mus’s business suffered tragically, plunging the family further into poverty. The argument arose out of Mus, the complainant, saying he could no longer look after Amity and her brother, due to his failing business, and that they could no longer live there. Amity and Workay subsequently had a verbal fight with Mus, who reported them to the police.
Living in poverty, they had no one to hire a lawyer for them. This is where AdvocAid stepped in being able to complete the required paperwork to secure bail for both defendants.
Sia also arranged mediation between the family, agreeing a meeting between both sides with mediators including AdvocAid’s Programme Manager and Legal Officer. The complainant realised the need to take his own responsibility for situations, without running to the police.
During follow up, Sia learnt that the complainant decided to withdraw the matter from court.
Whilst such family issues may seem trivial on the surface, they’re not uncommon in Sierra Leone. Many family members turn one another into the police for small family disputes, but such actions result in women remaining behind bars for weeks on end, before there is any intervention. This leaves them unable to support their family, forced into terrible conditions in prison, and often when innocent.
It was reported by one of AdvocAid’s partners, Timap for Justice, that in Sierra Leone, over half the people in jail have not been convicted of any crime.
It is only with the intervention of organisations like AdvocAid, that women like Amity and Workay can be released for issues as small as abusive language.
Thank you for supporting AdvocAid’s project to provide Legal Aid to Women in prison in Sierra Leone. If you’d like to make a recurring donation to this project to help us reach our target, we’d be extremely grateful.
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