Sierra Leone

The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone was established in 2006, primarily focusing on creating a culture of respect and protection of human rights in the country. This is being achieved through, among other things, the Commission’s project by advocating, monitoring and redressing cases of human rights abuses; particularly for women, children, and war victims. Approved in June 2007 and funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, the Human Rights Commission capacity-building project was set up to run for one year to begin addressing these issues.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is responsible for implementing the Commission’s US$1.5 million project. The support is two tiered – one level is organizational; supporting the Commission to acquire, equip and furnish office space for its headquarters in Freetown, and recruit core staff. The second tier of support is technical; supporting investigations, inquiries, public education, reviewing legislation, advising government and so on. These two tiers of support have contributed to the human rights organisation’s ability to handle over 70 cases of human rights violations to date, to engage it with Government to promote and monitor human rights, and to enable it to monitor the implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations.

The contribution by the Irish Government of seed money worth 300,000 Euro to support the Human Rights Commission beyond the one year mark has just been announced by UNDP. According to Country Director, Bernard Mokam, “it is hoped that other donors will follow the example of Irish Aid to help strengthen the capacity of the Human Rights Commission, to improve the culture and respect for human rights in Sierra Leone.”