SLCMP, Freetown, Friday 15^th June 2007

Yesterday, Thursday 14^th June 2007, the Sierra Leone Parliament passed three ‘gender bills’ into law. The new Acts, the Domestic Violence Act, the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act and the Devolution of Estates Act, will together help to radically improve the position of women in Sierra Leone.

This day marks an enormous landmark in the efforts to achieve parity between men and women in Sierra Leone. Until now could not seek legal redress for grievances because of the poor state of the law. While the government had signed up to all the international instruments, most notably the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), it had thus far failed to domesticate them into national law. These new laws help to turn these international commitments into national legal treaties.

The bills were drafted back in 2005, but with numerous different versions circulating, and little leadership to the process, they only now came before Parliament for the first time. They passed under a certificate of urgency issued by the President, which provided that Parliament would do all the readings and committee stages in just one day. The Government was keen to get the bills passed into law before Parliament disbands for the elections due on August 11^th 2007.

Led by the Minister for Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, Dr Shirley Gbujama, and championed by the Speaker and various opinion leaders in the House, Parliament sat from 11am to 8.30pm without a break. Dressed in white, Hundreds of women and their male supporters from all over the country attended Parliament, to hear the sessions and show their support for the bills.

The passage of the laws also marked an innovative collaboration between government and civil society. While the bills were first championed by the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee with support from UNDP, numerous other partners provided support, including extensive legal input from the newly-formed Human Rights Commission and considerable logistical support from an informal coalition of civil society organisations known as the Taskforce on the Gender Bills. The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme has played a central role in this taskforce.

The Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act provides that children cannot marry below the age of 18 and introduces the requirement that both parties must consent. It provides that women are entitled to acquire and dispose of property in their own right, and that dowries do not have to be returned in the event of divorce or separation. It also enables women to apply for child maintenance if a father refuses to take responsibility for his child. In addition, customary marriages and divorces will have to be registered, l ke other marriages, and this will enable people to prove their marital status if their spouse denies responsibility.

The Domestic Violence Act introduces both a new offence of domestic violence and the legal instrument of protection orders to regulate violent relationships, including, if necessary, excluding men from the home. The Act will also require the Government to provide temporary safe homes for victims of domestic violence.

The Devolution of Estates Act will introduce considerable changes to the economic standing of women, as most wealth in Sierra Leone is inherited. Whereas currently if someone dies without a will, the estate usually reverts to the deceased person’s parents and brothers, with the enactment of the new law, the majority will devolve to the wife and children. The Act will also end the widespread practice of wife inheritance whereby women are forced to marry their husband’s brother. However, it will not provide for unmarried partners if one of the partners is already married, and people must therefore be warned of the dangers of cohabiting with someone who may have separated from their former partner but is not yet divorced. In addition dependants may not apply to vary a will, so people must be conscious that if they make a will they must update it regularly.

The enactment of these laws is a huge step forward, but implementation will nevertheless be an uphill struggle. While the Government will be formally responsible for the process, it will be up to civil society to be dynamic in supporting government efforts and ensuring that the rights enshrined in the new Acts are realised.