Girls and women’s right organisation, AdvocAid Sierra Leone has filed an application against the state of Sierra Leone contesting their loitering laws.

The NGO believes that Sierra Leone’s current loitering laws violate the basic principles of human rights.

They said that the country’s loitering laws are in conflict with articles 1,2 and 3 (1) and 12 (1) of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

AdvocAid’s application to the ECOWAS Court is seeking an order for Sierra Leone to repeal the said laws.

The matter is set to be heard on Saturday presided over by Ghanaian Judge, Edward Amoako Asante.

The matter is said to have also drawn interest from NGOs Consortium for Street Children and Amnesty International. The two have applied to the court as amicus curiae.

AdvocAid’s application presented evidence against the State where poor and vulnerable people have been targeted by authorities using sections 7 and 13 (1)(e)(f) of their Public Order Act of 1965.

The application points out that poor people are arrested at night not because they present harm to the public but simply because of their status while the rich normally go unscathed.

“Persons who are arrested are subjected to systemic police corrupt practices of sexual and physical violence and demands for bribes,” AdvocAid stated.

They added that some women without money end up become victims of sexual abuse by security personnel.