Notes

Notes

SIERRA LEONE
A country review of crime and criminal justice, 2008

African Human Security Initiative

Monograph No 160, May 2009

1. A national crime victimisation survey was carried out at the same time as this review was conducted. Its findings, which constitute part of this report, are published in a separate forthcoming ISS report entitled ‘A survey of crime victims in Sierra Leone’, by Dr AB Chikwanha.
   
   

2. Timap is Krio phraseology meaning ‘to defend justice’ or ’Stand up’.
   
   

3. Most of the English laws inherited from the colonialists are still on the statute books of Sierra Leone. These laws have not been amended to suit cotemporary legal experience and are mostly otiose. It is submitted that this legislative inertia is an affront on Sierra Leone’s sovereignty. See section 170 of the Constitution for laws comprising the Sierra Leone legal system.
   
   

4. The legal vehicle for the importation and adaptation of imperial legislation into Sierra Leone is the Laws (Adaptation) Ordinance of 1960.
   
   

5. For an appraisal of these rights, see sections 15 to 30 of the Constitution.
   
   

6. The Office of the Ombudsman was established under a provision of section 146 (1) of the Constitution. Under the provision parliament was mandated to establish the office by not later than 12 months from the date of the commencement of the Constitution. The Ombudsman was originally the Parliamentary Commissioner appointed under the Parliamentary Commission Act 1967 to investigate complaints of administrative action.
   
   

7. Section 3 of the Police Act of 1964 established what was then known as the Sierra Leone Police Force (SLPF). The history of policing in Sierra Leone is drawn mostly from AI Shek Kamara’s 2005 essay entitled ’Future challenges facing the Sierra Leone Police’.
   
   

8. The statistics used here were current as at 2 June 2008. The statistics are maintained by the SLP’s Freetown Headquarters, which has a data office and obtains weekly returns on the personnel strength of the force.
   
   

9. Differences in totals are due to absence of information from some prisons.
   
   

10. The Ministry of Justice, Department for Constitutional Affairs, What is justice?, www.dca.gov.uk/civil/final/contents (accessed 23 March 2008).
    
    

11. Section 8(2c) of the Constitution reads in full as follows: ’The Government shall secure and maintain the independence, impartiality and integrity of courts of law and unfettered access thereto, and to this end shall ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity and that opportunities for securing justice are not denied any citizen by reason of economic or other disability’.
    
    

12. Section 17(2b) of the Constitution states: ‘Any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed immediately at the time of his arrest of his right to a legal practitioner or any person of his choice and shall be permitted at his own expense to instruct without delay a legal practitioner of his own choice and to communicate with him confidentially’.
    
    

13. Officially recognised local courts settle disputes and sometimes include chiefs, families, secret society groups etc.
    
    

14. Kangaroo courts deal with cases that are not taken to formal or customary local courts. Cases are mostly presided over by chiefs and village elders at the community local courts.
    
    

15. Information provided by Mr Momo Turay, a Project Officer at JSDP.
    
    

16. The Paris Principles were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Paris from 7–9 October 1991. The principles stipulate that governments must establish an independent institution by an Act of Parliament to promote and protect the rights of citizens.
    
    

17. Ms Lucian Caulker is the Complaints Registrar of the HRCSL.
    
    

18. The Domestic Violence Act No. 20 of 2007 specifically criminalises violence in the private sphere.
    
    

19. The Devolution of Estate Act No. 21 of 2007 provides for a uniform system of distribution of estates nationwide, irrespective of the personal wishes or will of the deceased person or his/her survivors.
    
    

20. The Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act No. 22 of 2007 grants persons married under customary law the right to register their marriage and obtain a certificate in the same way as persons married under civil, Christian and Muslim rites.
    
    

21. Amnesty International, No one to turn to: women’s lack of access to justice in Sierra Leone, AI Index: AFR 51/011/2005, 6 December 2005.
    
    

22. Field report by the author.
    
    

23. Information provided by Mr Momo Turay, a Project Officer at JSDP.
    
    

24. The NFHR is a federation of 33 local human rights and rights-related organisations.Itaims to mobilise a greater voice through coordination, networking, collaboration and education/awareness-raising in a bid to promote and protect respect for human rights, democracy, rule of law, good governance, justice and accountability.
    
    

25. Global Rights was formerly known as the International Human Rights Law Group.
    

    
    
    

26. Melron C Nicol Wilson, A handbook for paralegals, Nicol Wilson and Co., 2004. LAWCLA and Global Rights developed a Handbook for paralegals in Sierra Leone, which serves as a quick source of reference for Sierra Leonean paralegals.
    
    

27. Barrister Oju Wilson.
    
    

28. Sheku Fonnie is the Project Officer for the paralegal services in Kailahun District.
    
    

29. Kangaroo courts are informal courts operated by chiefs at village or section level.
    
    

30. See Rule 2.2[a] of the UN Resolution 40/33, Beijing Rules 1985, Annex 2.
    
    

31. Part 1 of Chapter 44 stipulates that a young person means a person who is 14 years of age or upwards, and under the age of 17 years.
    
    

32. Where a young person is charged with any offence punishable, the court may order that he be committed to custody of an Approve School until he attains 18 years, or for any shorter period.
    
    

33. Article 2: For the purposes of this Charter, a child means every human being below the age of 18.
    
    

34. Article 1: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. This was ratified by Sierra Leone in 1990.
    
    

35. UN Resolution 40/33, Beijing Rules 1985, Annex 2.
    
    

36. UN Resolution 45/113, 1990, Annex 4.
    
    

37. UN Resolution 45/112, Riyadh Guidelines 1990, Annex 3.
    
    

38. OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990); entered into force on 29 November 1999.
    
    

39. The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, 1985.
    
    

40. The UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, 1990.
    
    

41. The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty, 1990. The Havana Rules are a follow up to the 1955 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, but specifically protect ‘juveniles in detention or custody’.
    
    

42. Information obtained from general observation by the author at Juvenile Court sessions and from Mr Joel Kamanda, the Juvenile Court clerk.
    
    

43. The article in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child reads: ‘Ensure that children are separated from adults in their place of detention or imprisonment’.
    
    

44. The article in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights reads: ‘Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and be accorded treatment appropriate to their age’ and legal status.
    
    

45. Mrs Nelson Harding was the Permanent Secretary of MSWGCA as at 20 June 2008.
    
    

46. Discussions with inmates by the author, coupled with information collected from Duty Officer.
    
    

47. See article 37(a) of the CRC.
    
    

48. Section 28(5) of the Constitution states: ‘Parliament shall make provision (a) for the rendering of financial assistance to any indigent citizen of Sierra Leone where his right under this chapter has been infringed or with a view to enable him to engage the services of a legal practitioner to prosecute his claim. (b) For ensuring that allegations of infringement of such rights is substantial and the requirement or need for real aid is real’.
    
    

49. The relevant part of Section 14(3)(4) of the ICCPR reads: ‘To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it’.
    
    

50. The relevant part of article 40(2)(b ii) of the CRC reads: ‘To be informed promptly and directly of the charges against him or her, and, if appropriate, through his or her parents or legal guardians, and to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence’.
    
    

51. Article 17(b3)(iii) of the CRC states: ‘Shall be afforded legal and other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his defence’.
    
    

52. Information provided by Mr Joel Kamanda, Juvenile Court Clerk.
    
    

53. This information from Harvey 2000 may also be found in MP-M Fofanah’s Challenges of juvenile justice.
    
    

54. Discussion with Mrs Gertrude Sesay, matron, Kingtom Remand Home, 21 June 2008.
    
    

55. Article 12(2) of the CRC determines: ‘For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law’.
    
    

56. Section 15 CAP 44 of the 1960 Laws of Sierra Leon states: ‘ … the court shall hear the witness for the defence and any further statement which the accused may wish to make in his defence’.
    
    

57. Information provided by Mr Joel Kamanda, Juvenile Court Clerk, 27 July 2008.
    
    

58. Part V11, section 41 of the Laws of 1960 reads: ‘Every appeal made against an order or sentence made or passed by a juvenile court under the provision of this ordinance shall be entered within seven days of the date the order was made or sentence appealed against’.
    
    

59. Article 40(2)(b)(v) of the CRC states: ‘If considered to have infringed the penal law, to have this decision and any measures imposed in consequence thereof reviewed by a higher competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body according to law’.
    
    

60. Author’s findings.
    
    

61. Committee on the Rights of the Child, 48th Session: Consideration of report submitted by state parties under Article 44 of the Convention, Concluding observation for Sierra Leone, CRC/C/SLE/CO/2, 20 June 2008
    
    

62. An Approved School is an institution where a juvenile is detained for reformation after trial.
    
    

63. The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty stipulates that the place of detention shall be equipped to ensure meaningful activities and programmmes to foster responsibility and self respect for the individual.
    
    

64. A detention centre for juvenile offenders on trial.
    
    

65. Information provided by the matron of the Approved School and Mrs Nelson Harding, the permanent secretary at the MSWGCA.
    
    
    

66. The visit to the Approved School was undertaken on the 20 June 2008.
    
    
    

67. Rule 31 recognises that juveniles deprived of their liberty have the right to facilities and services that meet all the requirements of health and human dignity.
    
    

68. Rule 38 determines that every juvenile of compulsory school-going age has the right to education suited to his or her needs and abilities and designed to prepare him or her for return to society.
    
    

69. UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty: ‘Every detention facility shall ensure that every juvenile receives food that is suitably prepared and presented at normal meal times’.
    
    

70. Information provided by Mr Yousuf Bangura, duty officer at the Approved School in Wellington.
    
    

71. Rule 67 of the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty reads: ‘All disciplinary measures constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment shall be strictly prohibited, including corporal punishment, placement in a dark cell,
    closed or solitary confinement, or any other punishment that may compromise the physical or mental health of the juvenile concerned’.
    
    

72. Information collected by the matron of the Remand Home – Mrs. Gertrude Sesay.
    
    
    

73. Information provided from Mrs Nelson Harding, Permanent Secretary of the MSWGCA.
    
    

74. Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 48th Session, June 2008: Concluding observations on Sierra Leone.
    
    

75. Mr Mariatu Kamara is the Probation Officer for the MSWGCA.
    
    

76. Information provided by Mrs Nelson Harding, Permanent Secretary, MSWGCA.
    
    

77. Information provided by Mr Jaward, Probation Officer, MSWGCA.
    
    

78. Report on the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. This UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/54/263 of 25 May 2000 entered into force on 12 February 2002.
    
    

79. See section 17(1) of the Human Rights Commission Act.
    
    
    

80. The tier system is based on the US government’s efforts to combat human trafficking. Countries in Tier 3 are those considered to ’neither satisfy the minimum standards, nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance’. Also see the US State Department Annual Report on Trafficking of 11 June 2004.
    
    

81. Initial country report on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, 2007.
    
    

82. Information provided by Mrs Nelson Harding, Permanent Secretary, MSWGCA, June 2008.
    
    

83. Committee on the Rights of the Child, 48th Session: Consideration of reports submitted by state parties, concluding observations on Sierra Leone, 20 June 2008.
    
    

84. Ibid.
    
    

85. Bail homes are used as a transit point before trail.
    
    

86. Information provided by Mr Mike Charley, a UNICEF Child Protection specialist.
    
    

87. Information provided by Mrs Nelson Harding, Permanent Secretary, MSWGCA, June 2008
    
    

88. Source: interview with local court supervisors.
    
    

89. Source: Local court officials.
    
    

90. Source: Ibid.
    
    

91. Source: Interview with Mr MS Turay, LCS Bombali.