Sierra Leone
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Content featuring Sierra Leone
Girls’ education and child marriage
Brief exploring the key facts, two-way impacts, common drivers and solutions on education and child marriage. Updated in September 2022.
Addressing child marriage through education: What the evidence shows
The brief examines what works to address child marriage through education. It highlights barriers to girls' education and recommends strategies to address them.
The Dakar Call to Action
The Dakar Call to Action was adopted at the West & Central Africa High-Level Meeting in Dakar from 23-25 October 2017. It calls on governments to address child marriage.
Child marriage in West & Central Africa
This brief provides an overview of child marriage in West and Central Africa and includes recommendations on how to address it.
Data sources
- African Arguments, Sierra Leone’s ban of pregnant school girls outlawed in landmark ruling, [website], 2020, https://africanarguments.org/2020/01/27/sierra-leone-ban-pregnant-school-girls-outlawed-landmark-ruling/ (accessed April 2020).
- African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, [website], 2018, https://www.achpr.org/legalinstruments/detail?id=46 (accessed January 2020).
- African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, [website], 2018, https://au.int/en/treaties/protocol-african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights-rights-women-africa (accessed January 2020).
- African Union, Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa: Call to Action, 2013, https://au.int/sites/default/files/pages/32905-file-campaign_to_end_child_marriage_in_africa_call_for_action-_english.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Bran sky, Enoch and Long, Child Marriage in Sierra Leone and Guinea: Cultural Roots and Girl Centred Solutions, 2017, https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/1770d8_a9bc1ddb4c8a4c1c8c72b41626002932.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Burman, M. E., and McKay, S., Marginalization of girl mothers during reintegration from armed groups in Sierra Leone, 2007, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5886469_Marginalization_of_girl_mothers_during_reintegration_from_armed_groups_in_Sierra_Leone_Original_Article (accessed February 2020).
- ECOWAS, ECOWAS First Ladies affirm Commitment to End Child Marriage and Promote Girl-Child Education in the Region, [website], 2019, https://www.ecowas.int/ecowas-first-ladies-affirm-commitment-to-end-child-marriage-and-promote-girl-child-education-in-the-region/ (accessed February 2020).
- ECOWAS, Final Communique. Fifty-fifth Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, 2019, https://www.ecowas.int/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Final-Communiqué_55th-Summit_Abuja_29-June-2019-1.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Forward, "IF YOU GO INTO THE BONDO SOCIETY, THEY WILL HONOUR AND RESPECT YOU" RESEARCH ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE. SUMMARY REPORT, 2017, https://www.forwarduk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Forward-Bondo-Report-2017-Updated-Branding-WEB.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Gastón, C. M., et al., Child marriage among boys: a global overview of available data, Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 14:3,p. 219-228, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/17450128.2019.1566584 (accessed January 2020).
- Global Partnership for Education, Sierra Leone, [website], https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/sierra-leone (accessed February 2020).
- Government of Sierra Leone, 2019 Voluntary National Reviwer Report on ON SDGs in Sierra Leone, 2019, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/23378Sierra_Leone_VNR_FINAL.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Government of Sierra Leone, Let Girls Be Girls, Not Mothers!, 2013, https://hivhealthclearinghouse.unesco.org/library/documents/let-girls-be-girls-not-mothers-national-strategy-reduction-teenage-pregnancy-2013 (accessed February 2020).
- Government of Sierra Leone, National strategy for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy and child marriage (2018-2022), 2018, https://campaigns.savethechildren.net/sites/campaigns.savethechildren.net/files/National%20Strategy%20for%20the%20reduction%20of%20Adolescent%20Pregnancy%20Sierra%20Leone.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Government of Sierra Leone, The agenda for prosperity. Road to middle income status, 2016, http://www.sierra-leone.org/Agenda%204%20Prosperity.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- High Level Meeting on Ending Child Marriage, Ending child marriage in West and Central Africa: The Dakar call to action Outcome document of the high-level meeting on ending child marriage in West and Central Africa Dakar, Senegal – 23-25 October 2017, [website], 2017, https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/2017/10/2017_10_25HLMOutcomedocument_ENFinal (accessed February 2020).
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Joint statement on child, early and forced marriage, HRC 27, Agenda Item 3, [website], 2014, http://fngeneve.um.dk/en/aboutus/statements/newsdisplaypage/?newsid=6371ad93-8fb0-4c35-b186-820fa996d379 (accessed February 2020).
- Nairobi Summit, Management and coordination of Country Programme, [website], 2019, http://www.nairobisummiticpd.org/commitment/management-and-coordination-country-programme (accessed February 2020).
- OCHA, Sierra Leone, [website], https://www.unocha.org/west-and-central-africa-rowca/sierra-leone (accessed February 2020).
- OECD Social Institutions & Gender Index, Sierra Leone, 2014, https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/SL.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act, 2009, https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/87725/100118/F593706426/SLE87725.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- Save the Children, Every Last Girl, 2016, https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/every-last-girl-free-live-free-learn-free-harm (accessed February 2020).
- Statistics Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2017. Survey Findings Report, 2018, https://mics-surveys-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/MICS6/West%20and%20Central%20Africa/Sierra%20Leone/2017/Survey%20findings/Sierra%20Leone%202017%20MICS%20Survey%20Findings%20Report_English.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Parallel Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Sierra Leone 57thSession, 2014, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SLE/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SLE_16247_E.pdf (accessed February 2020).
- UN Child Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Sierra Leone, 2016, p.6, http://www.refworld.org/docid/587ce56f4.html (accessed February 2020).
- UN General Assembly, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Sierra Leone, 2016, p.20, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/SLindex.aspx (accessed February 2020).
- UNICEF DATA, Female genital mutilation (FGM), February 2020, https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation/ (accessed February 2020).
- UNICEF-UNFPA, 2018 Annual Report Country Profiles, 2019, https://www.unicef.org/media/60281/file (accessed February 2020).
- UNICEF-UNFPA, Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, 2017, https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_92681.html (accessed February 2020).
- United Nations, Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, [website], 2017, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5 (accessed February 2020).
- World Bank, The World Bank In Sierra Leone, [website], 2019, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sierraleone/overview (accessed February 2020).