Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: MMR-PRACTICE-1

"Medical care for pregnant women and babies is mostly free now in Sierra Leone, as is contraception" (para 5). "More than 90 percent of pregnant women in Sierra Leone now get prenatal care, and the great majority are assisted during delivery by a trained midwife, nurse or doctor. After delivery, nurses put babies to the breast right away and counsel moms on exclusive breastfeeding practices, reducing infant mortality" (para 9).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: MMR-DATA-1

"Deaths in pregnancy and childbirth have plunged 74 percent since 2000, according to United Nations figures" (para 4).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: IM-DATA-1

"Sierra Leone, a country that remains heartbreakingly poor — yet where the risk of a child dying is less than half what it was 20 years ago (para 3).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: CRPLB-PRACTICE-1

"Medical care for pregnant women and babies is mostly free now in Sierra Leone, as is contraception" (para 5). "More than 90 percent of pregnant women in Sierra Leone now get prenatal care, and the great majority are assisted during delivery by a trained midwife, nurse or doctor. After delivery, nurses put babies to the breast right away and counsel moms on exclusive breastfeeding practices, reducing infant mortality" (para 9). "Obstetric fistulas are being repaired, giving girls their lives back, at a pace that couldn’t have been imagined 20 years ago" (para 12).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1

“Despite calls from activists and human rights advocates for the practice to be criminalised – including from the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls – [FGM] remains legal in Sierra Leone” (6). “FAHP [Forum Against Harmful Practices] is lobbying for a law that would criminalise FGM, and is working to promote alternative rite-of-passage ceremonies that forgo the practice. Last year, the organisation piloted FGM-free initiation ceremonies in three districts, and it hopes to extend the trial to two more this year. ‘The results have been very encouraging,’ said [executive secretary of FAHP, Aminata] Koroma. ‘There are many positive aspects of the Bondo societies,’ she said. ‘They teach...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: MURDER-PRACTICE-2

“Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM). Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports. Aminata Koroma, the executive secretary of the Forum Against Harmful Practices (FAHP), an organisation working to end FGM in Sierra Leone, said the girls’ parents and those who cut them were in police custody” (1-3). “In 2021, Maseray Sei, 21, from Bonthe district in southern Sierra Leone died from complications after undergoing FGM. A practitioner was charged with manslaughter but the case was dismissed due to an...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: INFIB-PRACTICE-1

“Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM). Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports” (1-2). “In 2021, Maseray Sei, 21, from Bonthe district in southern Sierra Leone died from complications after undergoing FGM. A practitioner was charged with manslaughter but the case was dismissed due to an error in a medical report on Sei’s death” (13). “Divya Srinivasan, who leads on ending harmful practices at the NGO Equality Now, said: ‘It is completely unacceptable that despite women and girls continuing to...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: INFIB-DATA-2, RISW-PRACTICE-1

“A national survey in 2019 found that 83% of women had undergone FGM, a slight drop from 90% in 2013” (6).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: DMW-PRACTICE-1

“The procedure [of FGM] is part of a traditional initiation ritual that marks a girl’s entry into womanhood. It is carried out by soweis, senior members of the all-women Bondo secret societies. FAHP [Forum Against Harmful Practices] is lobbying for a law that would criminalise FGM, and is working to promote alternative rite-of-passage ceremonies that forgo the practice. Last year, the organisation piloted FGM-free initiation ceremonies in three districts, and it hopes to extend the trial to two more this year. ‘The results have been very encouraging,’ said [executive secretary of FAHP, Aminata] Koroma…Research has found that the most effective FGM-free ceremonies are still those facilitated by the soweis. ‘When...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: INFIB-PRACTICE-1

“The procedure [of FGM] is part of a traditional initiation ritual that marks a girl’s entry into womanhood. It is carried out by soweis, senior members of the all-women Bondo secret societies. FAHP [Forum Against Harmful Practices] is lobbying for a law that would criminalise FGM, and is working to promote alternative rite-of-passage ceremonies that forgo the practice. Last year, the organisation piloted FGM-free initiation ceremonies in three districts, and it hopes to extend the trial to two more this year. ‘The results have been very encouraging,’ said [executive secretary of FAHP, Aminata] Koroma. ‘There are many positive aspects of the Bondo societies,’ she said. ‘They teach girls about medicinal...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1

“Sierra Leone made history when the president signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024. For a country with one of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world, it is a crucial step forward, and a hard-won achievement for campaigners in west Africa” (1). “[D]espite... advances, the law falls short by missing the vital component in enacting the urgent reform needed to eradicate FGM, viewed by many as a precursor to marriage, regardless of age. Child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are deeply interwoven, yet an amended Child Rights Act of 2024, laid out to protect girls from all forms...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: MURDER-PRACTICE-1

“The handful of high-profile cases in Sierra Leone, including the most recent concerning the death of three girls [due to Female Genital Mutilation], investigated by police in January, would have been ignored were it not for campaigners agitating and pushing it into international focus and advocating, ‘yes to culture, no to the harmful practice of cutting’. A Bloodless Rite, a film made by Purposeful and activists, powerfully illustrates feminist solidarity and possibility of sacred female spaces” (6).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: INFIB-PRACTICE-1

“The more the child rights bill is stalled, the more it reveals itself as a dilution tactic of pushing against ending FGM – and the more sinister the interplay becomes between girls’ and young women’s rights and the anti-rights agenda. The rhetoric of those who refuse to criminalise FGM simply continues to harden conservative patriarchal norms and underpin far-right ideologies, wrapped in the cloak of tradition. With FGM seen as the precursor to marriage, the threat of child marriage will continue” (4). “Despite decades of campaigning by anti-FGM activists, it remains prevalent – shielded in the belief that to become a woman and be fit for marriage, girls must be...more

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: INFIB-DATA-2

“The devastating impact of FGM on girls’ and women’s psychological and physical health has been long identified internationally as a human rights violation. In April, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls named it as ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed’, and yet current estimates…in Sierra Leone, it affects 83% of girls and women. Despite decades of campaigning by anti-FGM activists, it remains prevalent – shielded in the belief that to become a woman and be fit for marriage, girls must be cut, must be subordinate, their bodies violated and conditioned that this is the norm” (5).

Countries: Sierra Leone
Variables: AOM-LAW-1

“Sierra Leone made history when the president signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024…It repeals previous ambiguous laws to explicitly name child marriage as illegal and underscores a clear commitment to girls’ rights. The legislation also establishes mechanisms for enforcement, ensuring that perpetrators – including the husband and those who enable the marriage such as parents and the person officiating – are held accountable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment, with survivors now able to seek justice and compensation” (1-2).