Welcome to the 56^th edition of The Monitor, a monthly publication of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL). This publication discusses critical national issues relating to justice, accountability, rule of law, and general governance issues. In particular, it chronicles observations and analysis from our Court Monitors who sit in various formal and informal courtrooms every week day across the country to observe if court officials adhere to procedural and substantive legal standards. This newsletter, The Monitor, gives us an opportunity to share our observations and thoughts on the anomalies and/or improvements in the justice sector.

Hon. Steve Gaojia, Min of Gender and Children’s Affairs

It is that time of year when the world gets together to campaign for “No Violence Against Women and Children.”  No Violence Against Women and Children is an international campaign each year of 16 days of activism from 25 November to 10 December. November 25 is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, while December 10 is International Human Rights Day.

Dr. Nemata Majeks-Walker, 50/50 Group

The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone, UNIPSIL, and OHCHR, in November convened a two-day national conference in Freetown to develop strategies aimed at implementing the recommendations of the final UPR report. The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states once every four years.

Sierra Leone Parliament

Take a moment to think about this: In 2010 alone, the Sierra Leone Government disbursed over Le75 billion in “direct fiscal transfer” to local councils across the country. That did not include the in-kind contribution the central government made to the local councils. The in-kind contributions covered education subsidy for National Primary Selective Examination (NPSE) and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) fees, procurement of text books and other materials, among others.

Amb. Dauda Kamara, Min of Local Government and Rural Development

Without doubt, such disbursements represent a significant contribution to local government administrations, and thus require active community participation in ensuring that it is judiciously utilized.