By Hajaratu Kalokoh
An investigation by Don Bosco Fambul has revealed that Police have already recorded 996 sexual assault cases from January to March this year.
In a press statement issued by the organization, it said 963 of these cases were sexual penetration, whiles the remaining 28 were rape cases.
The figure is an indication of the alarming nature of the situation of violence against women is. The investigation by Don Bosco was done to inform a newly launched campaign titled: “Enough is Enough Stop Child Abuse!”
Don Bosco Fambul is a local charity organization that is committed to campaigning for child rights. Since its establishment in 1998, it has been running several shelters to protect children from social problems like physical and sexual abuse.
Over the years, they have provided shelter for rape victims and child prostitutes.
Director of Don Bosco Fambul, Fr Jorge Mario Crisafulli, explained during the launch last week that the trend of sexual abuse of children in the country is alarming and that it needed collective responsibility to combat it.
Fr Crisafulli praised the current efforts to deal with the situation.
“Sexual Abuse Syndicate was created, and we commend President [Julius Maada] Bio and the Sierra Leone Police for the creation of this association to deal directly with cases of sexual abuse and appoint judges to speed up cases that have gone through magistrate courts to the high court,” he said.
Fr. Crisafulli then stressed the need for more action to address the issue. He said there is an urgent need for girls to be rescued from sexual abuse, early marriage and child prostitution.
“We want to see clear statistics from FSU [Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police], clear data from the Office of Public Prosecution in the Judiciary, we want to see perpetrators in jail and that the sentences for these people are very strong because if these perpetrators are not given strong punishment, when they are out they will rape another girl,” Criscafulli said.
National Administrative Officer at FSU, Audrey Rita Kamara, cited the expanded mandate of the unit as a source of constraint to its effectiveness. She explained that the mandate of FSU, when it was established back in 2000, was to investigate cases of sexual and gender base violence and that after the enactment of the three gender laws (domestic violence acts, human trafficking acts and the child rights acts), the mandate has broaden.
Audrey cited time constraint in terms of investigating cases due to delay caused by bureaucracy associated with inter-agency coordination. This and the fact that the Police don’t have a proper laboratory system make the work of the FSU less effective, she said.
“Most of these cases when they are charged to court or when they come back to us they say it lacks evidence because we do not have a forensic evidence lab that will lead the perpetrator to the crime scene. And again, sometimes by the time the children come to us the evidence has been distorted,” said Audrey.
Director of Public Prosecution, Law Officers Department, Easmon Ngakui, said that they have 278 cases waiting to be charged to court by the Police. He also agreed that the process of investigation is time consuming and cumbersome for them to convict the right persons. But he added that they are learning from experiences abroad.
“We have just concluded a visit to the Caribbean, myself, Chief Justice, and the minister Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs to see how they have been handling cases of such nature,” Ngakui said.
Rainbow Initiative has been one of the leading organizations that have been dealing with sexual assault cases in the country. Their services include medical care and psycho-social counselling.
Communication and Fundraising Officer at the organization, Agatha Ada Levi, also gave statistics which reflects the seriousness of the situation.
According to the statistics from their five centers across the country (Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, and Kono), between January to May, they received a total of 1,681 cases of sexual assault and majority of these cases are children between 11 and 17 years. She said they have received a total of 77 physical assault cases.
“As I speak, we have a two-month old baby in Kono who was physically assaulted. And out of these 1,681 cases we are saddened to say we received a total of 248 positive pregnancy and all of these cases are teenagers,’’ Agatha said.
The launch of Don Bosco’s campaign to protect vulnerable children comes at a time when government and right groups are engaging to amend the Sexual Offences Act.
Child activists who were at the launch of the Enough is Enough Stop Child Abuse! Campaign said it is important for the government to also focus on the provision of free health care, safer homes and prompt legal support immediately.
© 2019 Politico Online
