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                 Song Promotes Human Rights Day in Sierra Leone

   by Nina DeVries

   December 10 is International Human Rights Day. The U.N. General
   Assembly adopted the date in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
   In Sierra Leone, one non-governmental organization called Advocaid is
   getting creative and using the date to launch a new song, meant to
   educate women about their rights.
   A catchy upbeat tune is playing for the first time across the nation
   today, and there is a strong message behind it. The song, called Nar Yu
   Right,  focuses on explaining to women about their legal rights, such
   as not to sign anything that they do not understand when taken into
   police custody or that they are innocent until proven guilty.

   IFRAME: [1]//www.youtube.com/embed/WzZbRahzkG0

   Well-known Sierra Leoneon hip hop artist Star Zee sings the song. The
   concept for it came from Advocaid. The group provides education and
   reintegration for female detainees and their children and offers free
   legal aid to women who cannot afford a lawyer.
   Many times, women are put in jail even though they are innocent.
   Defending rights
   One woman who Advocaid has helped spoke in her native Krio language and
   explained that she was accused of murdering her boyfriend, when in fact
   he died due to an accident.
   Sonia Osho-Williams, a program officer with Advocaid, said, many times
   women are too afraid to speak out and seek help, especially women
   working in the commercial sex trade industry.
   "So these women sometimes feel they do not have a voice and they are
   incredibly scared of actually going to police because they feel
   marginalized and that no one is there to support them because they are
   stereotyped, victimized, discriminated against," she said.
   Many women the organization works with also are in jail after defending
   themselves in a domestic abuse situation.
   "When you hear some of these stories about these women, a lot of them
   are victims of domestic violence, a lot of them are victims of
   gender-based violence. A lot of them, it's as a result of retaliating
   or self-defense that they become perpetrators, become in conflict with
   the law," said Osho-Williams.
   Gender violence
   Leading up to International Human Rights Day are 16 Days of Activism
   Against Gender Violence. This is an international campaign to raise
   awareness about violence against women and take action to eradicate it.
   It began November 25 and ends on International Human Rights Day.
   A [2]2013 World Health Organization global study says 35 percent of
   women around the world have experienced either physical or sexual
   violence.
   Osho-Williams said the Nar Yu Right music video was shot in a female
   prison in Freetown and the prisoners loved it while learning more about
   their rights.
   Prioritizing education
   Charles Vandi is the director of Gender Affairs at the Ministry of
   Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs. He said the government
   is taking steps to educate men about domestic violence. A new program
   called Fine Sierra Leone attempts to reach out to men and boys across
   the country.
   "For instance, if you get to these men and boys who are the likelihood
   source of perpetrating gender-based violence, you need to educate them
   what is gender-based violence. What are the forms, types, consequences,
   effects of gender-based violence then they realize and figure, oh, I am
   in that bracket," said Vandi.
   Vandi added that Sierra Leone has passed several laws over the years to
   help women when it comes to human rights such as the Sexual Offenses
   Act. The law raised the minimum jail sentence for gender-based violence
   from two years to a five-to-15.
   The law, passed last year, also prohibits forced sex in a marriage and
   cases being held out of court.
   As for the song being played, women who have received help from
   Advocaid say they believe it can make a difference, and they hope that
   it will help others so they do not have to go through the same
   experience.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/song-promotes-human-rights-day-in-sie
   rra-leone/1807657.html

References

   1. file://www.youtube.com/embed/WzZbRahzkG0
   2. http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/en/
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/song-promotes-human-rights-day-in-sierra-leone/1807657.html