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Former Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden has recounted her 2016 presentation to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, and credited First Lady Fatima Maada Bio for later securing reforms to address child marriage in Sierra Leone.
In a statement dated June 3, 2026, Dr. Blyden said she addressed the 73rd Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in September 2016 in her capacity as Minister. She said her presentation covered child rights issues, including Sierra Leone’s approach to ending child circumcision and preventing the forced circumcision of adult women through the involvement of Bondo Soweis, practitioners of female circumcision.
According to Dr. Blyden, the UN Committee listened to her submissions and posed several questions, which she handled during the session. Six weeks later, on November 1, 2016, the Committee issued its report.
In Paragraph 22 of the report, the Committee acknowledged “the Government’s efforts to include practitioners of female genital mutilation in the fight against submitting children to female genital mutilation.” In Paragraph 23, the Committee urged Sierra Leone to “continue its fight with the assistance of former female practitioners of female genital mutilation to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation on children nationwide,” the report states.
The Committee also expressed concern about child marriage. In Paragraph 22(b), it noted that although the minimum legal age for marriage is 18 years, the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act 2009 contained loopholes that continued to permit child marriage in Sierra Leone, particularly affecting girls. In Paragraph 23(c), the Committee urged Sierra Leone to “take concrete and consistent measures, including the harmonization of laws, to prevent and eliminate child marriage and undertake comprehensive awareness-raising campaigns on the negative consequences of child marriage on girls.”
Dr. Blyden said she worked to address the child marriage concerns and close the identified legal loopholes after the UN report, but cited political and bureaucratic obstacles that prevented her from achieving the necessary reforms at the time.
She expressed appreciation for First Lady Fatima Maada Bio, stating that the First Lady “relentlessly pursued the reforms needed to close the child-marriage loopholes identified by the United Nations.” Dr. Blyden said Fatima Bio remained steadfast despite administrative and institutional barriers, kept the issue on the national agenda, and was instrumental in securing passage of the reforms through Parliament and assent by President Julius Maada Bio.
“I remain grateful and proud of Fatima as are countless progressive women and girls for her unwavering efforts on behalf of women and children,” Dr. Blyden wrote. “We may not all share the same political views, but God Almighty knows that Fatima has been a true heroine in the realm of protecting Sierra Leone women and girls. When it comes to politics, we will do politics. However, when it comes to the critical issues affecting women and girls, I do not play politics.”
She concluded by thanking First Lady Fatima Maada Bio “for all you have done for women and girls.”
