Beyond the Law. Access to Justice After Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone

Abstract

While Sierra Leone can boast of comprehensive laws on sexual violence, the available data on reported cases of sexual violence do not show a notable decline in cases, nor is there any meaningful increase in the number of prosecutions. This research is an attempt to answer this paradox through narratives from survivors.

The research was built on three theoretical frameworks of Intersectionality, Embodiment Theory and African Decolonial Feminist Thought. This was to ensure that a survivor’s story is not just analysed through her body but also through her society, family structure, financial capacity and the available legal institutions to uncover how power and control all intersect to give her or limit her access to justice.

Justice in this work was conceptualised as both a formal process and the lived experience of the survivor, largely because of the dual legal system of Sierra Leone that dictates the survivor’s journey.

Four main themes emerged as barriers that survivors face in different ways across their journeys, which included (a) Silence & Shame: Did It Really Happen? (b) The Unspoken Rule: When Justice Depends on Men’s Approval (c) Justice Cost: When Economics Meet Violence (d) Legal Frameworks as Invisible Barriers to Justice in Sierra Leone. As an answer to these findings, the research recommends the following: (a) Strengthen Community Social Support System (b) Community Ownership of the Laws ( c) Engagement of Men and Boys (d) Robust institutional Accountability. If these recommendations are taken into consideration, the laws move to become a little bit more functional in Sierra Leone.