This submission outlines the gaps in the protection of the rights of women and girls in Sierra Leone with regard to sexual violence, harmful practices, legal equality and human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Every October 11th, the world comes together to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child. This year, there is much to celebrate, including a legal victory against the government of Sierra Leone that led to the country lifting its discriminatory ban on pregnant girls attending school, Pennsylvania and Minnesota banning child marriage, Massachusetts passing a law criminalizing female genital mutilation, and a potential landmark case highlighting Bolivia’s failure to protect adolescent girls from sexual violence being referred to the Inter-American court after almost 20 years. But the work to protect girls’ rights is far from over.

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA/NEW YORK, NEW YORK, August 11, 2020 - On August 7th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced that it has referred the case of Brisa Liliana de Ángulo Lozada to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court).

This submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women details concerns regarding Bolivia’s failure to protect adolescent girls from sexual violence and provide survivors access to justice.

COVID-19 is exposing and exacerbating gender inequalities around the world. Each week, Equality Now will be sharing insights from experts about how women’s and girls’ lives are being affected by the pandemic and what can be done to address these challenges. 

On 27 May 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (UN SR VAW), Ms. Dubravka Šimonović and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), in collaboration with Equality Now, co-organized a virtual Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women.

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA/NEW YORK, NEW YORK, August 11, 2020 - On August 7th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) announced that it has referred the case of Brisa Liliana de Ángulo Lozada to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court).

Equality Now wrote to the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation in July 2020 in relation to the investigation into the case of the Khachaturian sisters - Maria, Krestina, and Angelina, regarding systemic domestic and sexual violence and the impact it has on its victims.

Brisa didn’t get justice when she was raped as a teen. Now, almost 20 years later, her case could set a legal precedent in Bolivia and for the Americas.