By Nasratu Kargbo
Executive Director of Rainbo Initiative Daniel Kettor has said that 40.6% of the total reported sexual assault cases they received in 2022 are from Western Area Urban and Rural making it the highest of the six regions covered.
Kettor at the launch of the Rainbo Initiative’s SGBV Survivors’ 2022 data on the 5th of April 2023 said that the Western Area Urban and Rural recorded the highest number of sexual assaults reported from six districts in the country with one thousand and ninety-eight (1,098) cases.
Highlighting the statistics for the other districts, Kettor said that Kenema recorded the second highest with 18% which accounts for five hundred and eight (508), followed by Bo with 15.6% making up for four hundred and twenty-one (421). Makeni recorded 12.0%- accounting for three hundred and twenty-four, Kono - 294 which is 10.9%, and Kambia - 60 which or 2.2%. The Director quickly noted that the numbers for Kambia were recorded for three months and not for all of the twelve months.
He stated that the total number of those that reported to them and received support from Rainbo Initiative in 2022, was two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two (2,941) survivors out of which nineteen are men.
He stated that there has been a decrease in reported cases, recalling that in 2021 they had received three thousand two hundred and ninety-two cases.
The Director also highlighted sexual assault cases per month comparing the years 2021 and 2022 which saw an increase in the months of February, June, and October. For February 2021 there was an increase of twenty-three reported cases, explaining that in 2021 they recorded two hundred and nine and two hundred and thirty-two cases.
Whilst for June 2021 they had two hundred and sixty-five reported sexual assault cases and had ten more in 2021 with two hundred and seventy-five. In the month of October 2021, they recorded two hundred and four reported cases whilst in 2022 they had two hundred and twenty-three cases, meaning they had nineteen more cases.
National Consultant for SGBV from the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs Ramatu Kargbo said the GBV data management, collection, and protection is very crucial in supporting survivors. She stated that it does not only provide information on the situation of survivors such as types and quality of services accessed but also informs future GBV prevention and response programming.
She stated that as per the presentation done by the Director, the number of reported sexual assault cases is higher than other forms of sexual violence, and noted that most of the survivors are school-going children mostly in Junior Secondary School (JSS) category. “This is a cause for concern, it is really worrisome”, she said.
Kargbo stated that they do not know the reason for the decline in reporting, but stated that this might be due to the national reforms in the policy and legal framework instituted by the government in recent times such as the establishment of the Sexual Offences Model Court, Amendments to the Sexual Offences Act, and the establishment of one-stop centers amongst others.
She commended the institution for providing what she described as useful data.
The six districts where Rainbo has centers are Western Area Urban, Rural, Kenema, Bo, Kono, Makeni, and Kambia.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (12/04/23)
