Police in Sierra Leone adopt UN-drafted guidelines on sexual abuse

Sierra Leonean police have adopted new policy guidelines on sexual abuse and exploitation that have been drafted by United Nations officials as part of their efforts to reduce the widespread levels of violence against women and girls in the West African country.

The policy guidelines, the first in the region, were drafted by the conduct and discipline office, the gender adviser and the UN Police section of the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), according to a statement issued in Freetown by the office on Saturday

This week UNIOSIL is also conducting workshops for managers, officers and other personnel in the Sierra Leonean police force. The funding for the whole project came from Norway.

UNIOSIL said it had drafted the guidelines in response to a request from the family support unit of Sierra Leone’s police to provide training to police officers on preventing domestic violence, cruelty, assault, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, which are prevalent across the country.