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Sierra Leone’s Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Isata Mahoi, has called for stronger efforts to ensure that justice becomes a lived reality for women and girls, rather than remaining only a constitutional promise.
The Minister made the statement while delivering Sierra Leone’s address at the Ministerial Round Table on Access to Justice for Women and Girls during the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) held in New York City.
In her address, Mahoi emphasized that fair, inclusive, and equitable legal systems are essential for protecting rights, promoting gender equality, and advancing sustainable development.
She highlighted the progress Sierra Leone is making to remove barriers that prevent women and girls from accessing justice. According to the Minister, the Government is currently undertaking a constitutional review process aimed at eliminating discriminatory provisions and strengthening gender equality within the country’s supreme law.
Mahoi noted that women’s groups submitted sixteen key recommendations during the review process, most of which have already been accepted by the Government—an important milestone toward building a more gender-responsive constitutional framework.
The Minister also underscored ongoing efforts to strengthen laws and policies that address sexual and gender-based violence, protect family and child rights, and safeguard women’s rights to property, nationality, and participation in public life.
Despite these efforts, she stressed that structural barriers such as poverty, illiteracy, stigma, and the urban-rural divide continue to limit access to justice for many women and girls.
Mahoi concluded by calling for stronger collaboration between governments, civil society organizations, and international partners to dismantle discriminatory systems and ensure that justice is never distant, delayed, or denied to women and girls.
