Blog
International Human Rights Day : The Death Penalty
AdvocAid board member and former Executive Director Simitie Lavaly spoke recently at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. During her time at AdvocAid, Simitie represented eight women and men on death row, advocated for better conditions for...
COVID-19 Stories: CSWs’ Experience
Fatmata*1 is a chairlady of commercial sex workers in one of Sierra Leone’s brothels. According to Fatmata*, COVID-19 regulations, especially imposed curfews, made her and other CSWs’ lives even more vulnerable and precarious. To enforce curfews, Sierra Leone Police...
COVID-19 Stories: Arrested for Getting Food and Water During Lockdown
“I was so scared when I was arrested, I couldn’t say anything to the police.” During Sierra Leone’s periodic lockdowns, which started on 5th April, a number of girls and women were arrested for going out to get necessities, like food and water, for their families....
PRESS RELEASE: AdvocAid launches new five year strategy
We are excited to announce the launch of our new five year strategy with passion, ambition, feminism, and human rights at its heart. Our strategy was created through a consultative and collaborative process that engaged women with lived experience, staff, volunteers,...
PRESS RELEASE: AdvocAid announces it will represent two women on death row
While globally people commemorated the World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October, two women accused of murder were sentenced to death in Magburaka and Kabala, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone retains a mandatory death penalty for murder and as an applicable...
COVID-19 Stories: Amina’s Story
Amina* is a 34 year old fish trader in Freetown. She buys fish in large quantities, dries them and then takes them to the provinces to sell on village market days. To boost her fish business, in February 2020, she took a Le 1,500,000 loan (approx $140) with 5%...
COVID-19 Stories: Hawa’s Story
Hawa* is a young Muslim woman who runs a small kiosk business. One day as she travelled into town she was stopped by the police who asked why she was not wearing a mask. She tried to explain that with a full face covering niqab there is no need for a mask as her whole...
COVID-19 Stories: Felicia’s Story
Felicia* is a mother with a new-born struggling to provide for herself and her son. With trading hours restricted by the curfew, her earnings are much reduced. Whatever she makes is spent on his care and buying a small amount of food for herself when she can afford...
PRESS RELEASE: With people in detention vulnerable to uncontrollable spreads of COVID-19, ground-breaking research investigates the gruelling reality of female imprisonment in Sierra Leone.
First comprehensive study of women in Sierra Leone's prisons finds 62% of those interviewed were pre-trial detainees Pretrial detention contributes to overcrowding, which is alarming with the current COVID-19 pandemic 34% interviewees had been arrested and detained...
Press Release: Vance launch
PRESS RELEASE: AdvocAid launches groundbreaking research on the causes and consequences of women’s imprisonment in Sierra Leone, in partnership with Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice On 10 August 2020, AdvocAid and Cyrus R. Vance Centre for...