By Kemo Cham
The human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has called on the Sierra Leone government to repeal a controversial law that punishes loitering after a regional court ruled on it.
The law, which was first passed under British colonial rule, criminalizes anyone deemed to be loitering in public and failing to give a convincing account of themselves as an “idle and disorderly person”.
The Community Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on 7 November, 2024 ruled that the colonial-era legislation discriminates against poor people and other marginalized groups. The ruling delivered by Justice Edward Asante Amoako, the Judge Rapporteur, also noted that vague terms in the country’s loitering laws, such as “idle” and “disorderly,” create opportunities for arbitrary enforcement and do not meet standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality in a democratic society.
“We welcome this historic judgment, which is a step forward in protecting the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa said in a statement shared with ManoReporters.
“This judgment reiterates that laws criminalizing loitering are discriminatory as they punish people living in poverty and other marginalized groups simply because of their social and economic status.”
The women’s rights campaign group, AdvocAid Sierra Leone, challenged the legality of the piece of legislation, which it argued was discriminatory and targeting vulnerable and marginalized communities.
AdvocAid was backed by the Banjul-based Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA).
The activists said the laws violate provisions under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, such as the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to freedom of movement.
The offence is punishable by up to a month’s jail term.
Rights campaigners say the police have used violence and rape against people, mostly women, arrested for the offence. Suspects, particularly sex workers, have alleged police using the law to extract bribe from them whenever they are arrested. Those unable to pay bribes claimed they have been coerced into having sex to avoid spending the night in a police cell. Others alleged they were violently raped.
The case was first filed in March 2022.
One year later, on 22 March 2023, Amnesty International submitted a third-party intervention to the ECOWAS Court noting that loitering and other vagrancy laws discriminate against people living in poverty, LGBTI people and sex-workers and violate their right to dignity, as well as the principle of legality.
The Court in its judgement emphasized that appropriate social interventions rather than criminalization are more compliant with the government’s human rights obligations with respect to the poor and vulnerable.
“Amnesty International calls on Sierra Leone and all other countries to repeal vagrancy laws as well as all the other criminal laws that have a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups, including LGBTI people, sex-workers and people living in poverty,” the organization said.
