Sierra Leone

Paragraph 424.

Section 6 of the Provinces Act Cap. 60 provides for the abolition of slavery status or slavery in any form whatsoever, and section 7 and its subsections enact measures to be adopted for the punishment of those dealing in slavery – whether those persons are received or place in any service as a pledge or security for debt, induced to go to the Provinces in order that such persons may be dealt with or traded in, or whether a contract or agreement is entered into or not.

[para 425 speaks to the Constitutional provisions noted below].

Paragraph 78

In Sierra Leone, the Protectorate (No. 2) (Amendment) Ordinance 1926 and the Legal Status of Slavery (Abolition) Ordinance 1927 put an end to all forms of domestic slavery and no cases have been heard of for a very long time

15. Fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual

Whereas every person in Sierra Leone is entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual, that is to say, has the right, whatever his race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed or sex, but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest, to each and all of the following—

a.life, liberty, security of person, the enjoyment of property, and the protection of law;

17. Protection from arbitrary arrest or detention

1. No person shall be deprived of his personal liberty except as may be authorised by law in any of the following cases, that is to say—

18. Protection of freedom of movement

1. No person shall be deprived of his freedom of movement, and for the purpose of this section the said freedom means the right to move freely throughout Sierra Leone, the right to reside in any part of Sierra Leone, the right to enter or leave Sierra Leone, and immunity from expulsion from Sierra Leone.

19. Protection from slavery and forced labour

1. No person shall be held in slavery or servitude or be required to perform forced labour or traffic or deal in human beings.
2. For the purposes of this section the expression “forced labour” does not

include—

1. any labour required in consequence of a sentence or order of a court; or
2. labour required of any person while he is lawfully detained, which though not required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court, is reasonably necessary in the interest of hygiene or for the maintenance of the place in which he is detained; or
3. any labour required of a member of a defence force in pursuance of his duties as such or, in the case of a person who has conscientious objections to service as such a member, any labour which that person is required by law to perform in place of such service; or Right to conscientious objection

d.any labour required during a period of public emergency or calamity which threatens the life or well-being of the community; or

e. communal labour or labour which forms part of other civic obligation

Sierra Leone's  Constitution of 1991 (reinstated 1996, revised 2008) (PDF)

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;

“debt bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his personal services or those of a person under his control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;

“forced labour” means labour or services obtained or maintained through force, threat of force or other means of coercion or physical restraint;

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

“servitude” means a condition of dependency in which the labour or services of a person are provided or obtained by threats of serious harm to that person or other person, or through any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labour or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm;

“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.

Anti-Human Trafficking Act (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.

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.

30. Obtaining the services of a child prostitute

A person who–

(a) participates as a client or is otherwise involved with a child in an act of child prostitution; or

(b) invites, persuades or induces a child to engage in child prostitution with him or her or any other person,

commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years.

31. Offering, arranging or benefitting from child prostitution

(1) A person who–

(a) offers, arranges or facilitates the engagement of a child in prostitution; or

(c) knowingly receives any financial or other reward, favour or compensation from child prostitution,

commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years.

Sexual Offences Act 2012 (PDF)