The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Ms. Amina J. Mohammed paid a Courtesy call on First Lady Fatima Maada Bio. Welcoming the Deputy Secretary-General, the first lady said she admired her work and passion.
She spoke about the need for victims of SGBV to have a safe space . The First Lady went on to say she has been working with other first Ladies in accelerating the campaign on gender equality.
She told the deputy Secretary general that sierra leone has managed to set up a special court on rape and other sexual violence in the city and plans to replicate that throughout the regions.
First Lady talked about how she personally engaged local leaders to champion the hands off our girl’s campaign, and also educating people to see the need for girls to go to school.
She went on to talk about how the police and military are also part of the task force set up to combat SGBV alongside the women- Doctors in sierra leone, adding the president sits as chairman of the task force meeting once a month. She said, We want positive change not just for Sierra Leone but for Africa as a whole.
The DeputySecretary-General of the United Nations Ms. Amina J. Mohammed , said she is pleased to be in sierra leone, saying the first Lady did a great job in illustrating her experience with passion and she is doing a great job in using her office to address the issues that matters most in Sierra Leone.
Our initial reason for the visit is about solidarity trip in this covid crisis period, to show that there is still global leadership and global attention and how they can bring all the necessary responses to help deal with the current economic crisis caused by the covid pandemic.
She said they were on a working visit to five countries, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Ghana and each of these countries have a different issues, which is why they are also trying to demonstrate that while they are in solidarity with the governments and the people they serve, they are also in solidarity with their own UN footprint to remind them that there is still work to be done.
She said sierra leone is a post-conflict country and sustaining peace takes time.
She adds that Landing in sierra Leone they manage to talk to their teams, other young women, lawyers, Doctors, for them to discuss issues they care most about and also supporting the work of the government. She went on to say that sexual and gender-based violence was right up in what the people were interested in combating .
The Deputy Secretary-General said ‘Hands off our girls’ is an amazing slogan as it is simple and effective , and it is about changing mindset and taking responsibility for girls to have a right of participation and not to have fear, adding also that the special court for rape is a signal that we are very serious about this issue. She goes on to say that they are happy to support this project with their spotlight program, and will like to bring Sierra Leone into that project and also hope to work with the first lady in manufacturing the sanitary pads.
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