Sierra Leone

Countries and organizations address the reports presented at the Human Rights Council

Published in Wednesday March 19th, 2014 In News on the Rapporteurs

Read the statements of the 32 countries and 6 organizations that addressed the reports’ presentation.

Sierra Leone’s statement on the security of tenure report

Published in Thursday March 7th, 2013

Read Sierra Leone’s statement regarding the presentation given by the Special Rapporteur about her thematic and mission reports on March 4th, during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council.

Sand-mining threatens homes and livelihoods in Sierra Leone

Published in Saturday February 2nd, 2013 In In the media

In the village of Lakka whole stretches of coastline are littered with the remains of buildings whose foundations have been washed from underneath them as a result of sand-mining. Many coastal residents can only watch as the coastline draws ever-nearer to their homes.
Balu Kargbo lives just a few feet away from a cliff of loose sand at the edge of Hamilton Beach, 8 km from Freetown. She is very concerned about the threat to her home but, like her neighbours, she cannot afford to move. “The beach is getting shorter all the time,” she says.

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Diamonds Are Not Forever, but the Land Is

Published in Friday February 1st, 2013 In In the media

In the village of Makonkonde in western Sierra Leone, Mabinti, who no longer knows her age, sits on a low wooden stool in the dappled shade of several palm trees. She clutches a solitary papaya fruit in hands toughened by a lifetime of hard manual work.
Small-scale farming is not an easy way to make a living in rural Sierra Leone. Mabinti’s only real chance of selling her papaya is by waiting for customers travelling along the sandy track running through town, which sees just one or two motorbikes per hour.