| THE HEAD OFFICE
The Head Office of the Centre is situated at 15D Old Railway Line,
Brookfields, Freetown located about one mile from the Seat of Justice -
The Law Court Building.
The office co-ordinates the work of the Regional Offices in Bo, Kenema
and Makeni in addition to co-ordinating the work of the Centre in
Freetown.
Major activities undertaken by the Head Office during the past
five years
The Prisoners Rights Project
This project was funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)
for the provision of Legal Advice and Representation of indigent
Detainees and Prisoners with emphasis on Women throughout Sierra Leone.
Under this Project the Centre visited detention facilities throughout
the country on a regular basis and used questionnaires with a view to
identifying those in need of its services. Visits were followed up with
Legal Advice and Representations in Court. Between August 2003 and
December 2005, 3800 individuals directly benefited from the Centre's
services under this project.
The Legal Awareness Project
This project which was launched in July 2002 was a collaborative work
between the Centre and the University of British Columbia branch of the
Canadian Lawyers Association for Human Rights. The aim of the Project
was to educate litigants especially accused persons about their rights
in Court especially the right to Bail. Specifically, posters were
displayed in conspicuous sites within Police Stations and Courtrooms
throughout the Country educating accused persons about their rights.
The Paralegal Training Programme
In February 2004 the Centre in collaboration with Global Rights
(formerly the International Human Rights Law Group) trained one hundred
and twenty paralegals countrywide. The Country is know for its lack of
enough Lawyers and therefore the need to train community Leaders on
basic legal issues so that they will be able to assist other members of
their communities navigate the Legal and Judicial system and thus have
access to Justice. Forty paralegals were trained in each of the three
pilot towns of Kabala, Kono and Kailahun. As a means of enhancing the
capacity of the Centre's Staff, its own paralegals were also trained as
part of this program. LAWCLA and Global Rights are the first
institutions to undertake this training program in Sierra Leone
The Juvenile Justice Project
Between August 2004 and July 2005 this Office implemented a countrywide
Juvenile Justice Project entitled, "Legal Protection of Juveniles
and the Promotion of Juvenile Justice in Sierra Leone". This
Project, kindly funded by an anonymous Private Foundation in the United
States of America, consisted of the following activities:
- An assessment of the law and practice relating to the treatment of
juvenile offenders in Sierra Leone through research, data collection
and on the spot checks.
- A consultative workshop with local experts and groups dealing with
juveniles in Sierra Leone in order to ascertain the nature of the
problems at hand and the needs of juveniles in the country.
- Legal advice and representation of juvenile offenders throughout
Sierra Leone through the Centre's Head Office and the three Regional
Offices in Makeni, Bo and Kenema.
- Workshops and consultations with law enforcement officials and
social workers dealing with juvenile offenders, with the aim of
ensuring that the law (and in particular the provisions of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)) is applied sensitively
in relation to the treatment of juvenile suspects.
- Advocacy for reform of the laws relating to the treatment of
juveniles in Sierra Leone through quarterly publications and the
lobbying of Parliamentarians.
Advocacy for Reform of Laws Discriminatory against Women in
Sierra Leone
The Centre in collaboration with 50/50 Group and The Forum for
African Women Educationalist (FAWE) with financial support from the
Westminster Foundation for Democracy in the United Kingdom is presently
implementing a project on Advocacy for the reform of discriminatory laws
against women in Sierra Leone.
The project specifically aims at the following:
- Production of an abridged and simplified Handbook on
Discriminatory Laws against Women.
- Sensitization of the Sierra Leonean populace through the Media
about the existence of Discriminatory Laws against Women.
- Consultations with the Law Reform Commission and Parliament in
order to lobby for a reform of such Discriminatory Laws against
Women and the Domestication of the Convention on the Elimination of
all forms Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
- Advocacy for review of constitutional provisions sanctioning
discrimination against Women in Sierra Leone.
In implementing the project, the consortium produced a Handbook and
held consultations with the Law Reform Commission, the Parliamentary
Human Rights Committee as well as the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender
and Children Affairs.
A weekly Saturday radio discussion program on specific themes were
also aired at the Radio Democracy FM 98.1. |
