Blog
Celebrate International Women’s Day with us!
It has been a very busy start to the year for AdvocAid and one that has been full of success in our mission to empower women and girls in Sierra Leone. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we would like to share with you some of our achievements from 2018 so far.
AdvocAid reaches mental health milestone for female detainees in Kenema
Asiata* suffers from epilepsy. In September 2017, she was detained at the Female Correctional Centre in Kenema town for allegedly killing her son as a result of a seizure. She is now awaiting indictment at the High Court.
Winter Newsletter 2017
The last three months have, as always, been busy and full of achievements at AdvocAid. We hosted a regional conference on petty offences, launched a documentary about sex workers and appealed a death sentence to the Supreme Court, while continuing to support women and girls in police detention and correctional centres across the country.
New Documentary Shows Harassment and Violence Faced by Sex Workers
Today, AdvocAid and its partners launch “Kolonko,” a documentary in which sex workers talk about their lives.
AdvocAid welcomes new Executive Director and Legal Officer
AdvocAid is proud to welcome two new staff members to its team in Sierra Leone. Daniel Eyre joins the organisation today as Interim Executive Director and Cheryl Sembie started in August as Legal Officer.
Sierra Leone: Justice for Women Who Kill
Title: Justice for Women Who Kill
Year: 2017
Summary: Opinion Piece written by our board member Sabrina Mahtani about a woman who has not received her appeal judgement for the murder of her partner. This comes 7 years after AdvocAid placed the appeal. Aminata has been in prison since she was 17 years old.
New leadership for AdvocAid
Following the celebration of our 10 year anniversary last year and winning the Clifford Chance Access to Justice Award, which includes 500 hours of pro bono support from legal and organisational experts, AdvocAid would like to share news of developments for the organisation in 2017.
Lawyer Saramba’s blog – AdvocAid: 10 years fighting for justice
Ten years ago, at the very beginning of our existance, Saramba Kandeh started her legal internship with AdvocAid. Later she became our first ever female Duty Counsel.
Today, Saramba is a Legal and Gender Associate at Aids-Free World, but she has agreed to write this month’s blog to celebrate AdvocAid’s 10th anniversary. In the blog, she tells about some of the women she represented and why the experience she gained made her want to become a human rights lawyer.
Development Intern Saskia’s Blog: How AdvocAid taught me to be braver
This summer, Saskia Bunschoten-Binet did an internship with AdvocAid. She very quickly got herself immersed in various aspects of our work and she became an invaluable support to the team. Thanks, Saskia, for all your hard work and dedication!
In this month’s contribution to our anniversary blog series, Saskia reflects upon her time working for AdvocAid.
“Starting Where the Law Finishes”: An Analysis of the Prerogative of Mercy in Sierra Leone
In August, Rebecca Agliolo, a Law Student at the University of Cambridge, volunteered remotely for AdvocAid. One of the outcomes was an interesting analysis of “the Prerogative of Mercy”, which offers offenders the opportunity of retrospective pardon.