Healthcare News South Africa

New laws give Sierra Leone women unprecedented rights, protections

Women in Sierra Leone stand to enjoy unprecedented rights under new laws making wife-beating a criminal offence, allowing women to inherit property, and protecting young women against forced marriage.

Dakar - One human rights coalition said the three laws, enacted by Sierra Leone's parliament 14 June, will “help to radically improve the legal position of women in Sierra Leone.” In a communique the Taskforce on Gender Bills said, “Until now the issue of redress for injustices committed against women especially in the domestic realm has been an uphill task because of the inadequacies of the law.”

In the past women had no chance of justice if their husbands abused them, experts said. Generally, such matters have been kept in the family or at most presented to a local traditional leader.

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