Sierra Leone

Article 1.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires–

“coercion” means force or some form of non-violent or psychological force including–

(a) threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person;

(b) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or

(c) the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process;

“practices similar to slavery” includes debt bondage, serfdom, forced or servile marriages and delivery of children for exploitation;

“slavery” means the status or condition of a person over whom any or all the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised;

Article 2.

(1) It is an offence for any person to engage in the trafficking in persons.

(2) A person engages in the trafficking in persons if he undertakes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), “exploitation” includes, at a minimum–

(a) keeping a person in a state of slavery;

(b) subjecting a person to practices similar to slavery;

(c) compelling or causing a person to provide forced labour or services;

(d) keeping a person in a state of servitude, including sexual servitude;

(e) exploitation of the prostitution of another;

(f) engaging in any other form of commercial sexual exploitation, including but not limited to pimping, pandering, procuring, profiting from prostitution, maintaining a brothel, child pornography;

(g) illicit removal of human organs;

(h) exploitation during armed conflicts.

Article 15.

In a prosecution for trafficking under section 2–

(a) the consent of a victim to the intended or realised exploitation is irrelevant where any of the means specified in subsection (2) of that section has been used;

 (c) the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be regarded as trafficking in persons even if this does not involve any of the means specified in subsection (2) of section 2;

(d) the legal age of consent to sex, legal age of marriage or other discretionary age shall not be a defence to trafficking.

Article 18.

An attempt or conspiracy to commit trafficking or aiding, abetting, counselling, commanding or procuring the commission of trafficking shall be punishable as if the offence had been completed.

Article 21.

(1) Any person who knowingly transports any person across an international border for the purpose of exploiting that person’s prostitution commits an offence.

(2) Persons convicted of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years but the presence of any one of the following aggravating factors can permit a longer sentence up to a maximum of 10 years:–

(a) transporting two or more persons at the same time;

(b) permanent or life-threatening bodily injury to a person transported;

(c) transportation of one or more children; or

(d) transporting as part of the activity of an organized criminal group.

Article 22.

A person convicted of the offence of trafficking shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty million leones or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Sierra Leone Trafficking in Persons Law 2005 – English (PDF)

Article 2.

(1) Subject to this Act, a customary marriage, contracted after the coming into operation of this Act, shall be valid only if –

(a) both spouses are not less than eighteen years old and consent to the marriage; and

(b) the marriage is contracted in accordance with the customary law applicable to any of the spouses.

(2) Where, either of the prospective spouses, not being a widow or widower, is less than eighteen years, it shall be necessary for the parents to give consent to the marriage and if the parents are dead or unable for any reason to give such consent, then the consent may be given by the guardians of the prospective spouse or spouses to the marriage, as the case may be.

(3) If the consent of the parents or guardians cannot be obtained or is unreasonably withheld, a Magistrate or Local Government Chief Administrator of the locality in which the marriage is to take place may give his consent.

Article 5.

(1) A court may, on application, by order declare a customary marriage invalid on the grounds that either of the spouses is a minor.

(2) An application for an order under subsection (1) may be made by–

(a) either of the spouses to the marriage before the attainment of majority or within a reasonable time thereafter; or

(b) the guardian of a minor spouse, if he applies before the spouse attains majority and within a reasonable time of becoming aware of the existence of the marriage.

Article 6.

(1) Where the personal law of co-habiting persons is customary law and the persons–

(a) are not below eighteen years; and

(b) have lived together as husband and wife for a continuous period of not less than five years, they shall be deemed to be married under customary law notwithstanding that they may not have performed any customary rites of marriage.

(2) A marriage deemed to have been contracted by virtue of subsection (1) may be registered under Part III.

Article 19.

Any person who–

(a) applies to a local council for the registration of any customary marriage or divorce which he knows has not been lawfully contracted or dissolved, as the case may be, under the applicable customary law;

(b) knowingly makes any false entry in the register or a certified copy thereof; or

(c) with intent to defraud, alters any entry in the register or certified copy thereof,

commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Le1,000,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or to both the fine and imprisonment.

7. No marriage may be celebrated under the provisions of this Act-

(1) between persons who are related within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity according to the law of England;

(2) between persons of whom each or either not being a widow or widower is under the age of twenty-one years, in the case of a person whose personal law is not customary law and eighteen years, in the case of a person whose personal law is customary law unless the consent of the father, or if he should be dead or unable for any reason to give such consent, then of the guardian or guardians, if any, of such person or of a Judge of the High Court or District Officer under section 8 hereof, is first obtained;

(3) between persons either of whom is already married to some person other than a party to the intended marriage.

Any person knowing of any lawful impediment or hindrance to an intended marriage may inform the minister by whom any banns are published or who about to celebrate any marriage under this Act, or the Commissioner of Police or the District Officer of the District wherein such marriage is intended to be celebrated.

8. When the consent of any parent or guardian is required by this Act to an intended marriage, and there is no parent or guardian, or such parent or guardian is incapable of giving such consent, or unreasonably withholds such consent, the same may be given by writing under the hand of a Judge of the High Court:

Provided that if the marriage is intended to take place in any district of the Colony, other than the Police District of Free town, such consent may also be given by the District Officer of the district where the marriage is to take place, and if the marriage is intended to take place in the Protectorate, such consent may be given by the District Officer of the district in which the marriage is intended to take place:

Provided further that such consent shall not be given unless the Judge or District Officer as aforesaid is satisfied that the intended marriage is a proper one, and the Judge and District Officer aforesaid are hereby empowered to examine persons on oath or demand sworn declaration with respect to any matter connected with such intended marriage.

15. Any minister who celebrates a marriage knowing of one or other of the impediments mentioned in section 7 of this Act, or otherwise than within the period and hours specified in section 9 hereof, or without due publication of banns or authority of a licence duly obtained, or in a place other than the place specified in the licence, shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for one year, or to both:

Provided always that no, minister who shall celebrate any marriage after due publication of banns or by licence, or between persons both or one of whom (not being a widow or widower) shall at the time of such marriage be under the age of twenty-one years, shall be answerable or responsible or liable to any pain, penalty or proceeding for having celebrated such marriage without the consent of the parent or guardian or other person (if any) whose consent is required by law, unless such parent, guardian or other person shall forbid the marriage or give notice thereof to such minister before he has celebrated the same.

34. (1) The minimum age of marriage of whatever kind shall be eighteen years.

(2) No person shall force a child –

(a) to be betrothed;

(b) to be the subject of a dowry transaction; or

(c) to be married.

(3) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no certificate, licence or registration shall be granted in respect of any marriage unless the registrar or other responsible officer is satisfied that the parties to the marriage are of the age of maturity.

46. (1) Subject to subsection (1) of section 34, no person or association shall subject a child to any of the following customary practices:–

(a) early marriage;

(b) child betrothal

(2) Any person or association that coerces a child to participate in any of the practices specified in subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred thousand leones to or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

 1 In addition to any other grounds on which a marriage is by law void or voidable, a marriage shall be voidable on the ground-

(a) that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the wilful refusal of the respondent to consummate the marriage; or

(b) that the respondent was at the time of the marriage suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form; or

(0) that the respondent was at the time of the marriage pregnant by some person other than the petitioner;

Provided that, in the cases specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this sub-section, the court shall not grant a decree unless it is satisfied-

(i) that the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged;

(ii) that proceedings were instituted within a year from the date of the marriage; and

(iii) that marital intercourse with the consent of the petitioner has not taken place since the discovery by the petitioner of the existence of the grounds for a decree.

(2) Where a decree of nullity is granted in respect of a voidable marriage, any child who would have been the legitimate child of the parties to the marriage if it had been dissolved, instead of annulled, on the date of the decree shall be deemed to be their legitimate child notwithstanding the annulment.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as validating any marriage which is by law void, but with respect to which a decree of nullity has not been granted.