“Protecting Women’s Rights to own land will ensure greater management of our environment”- WoNES
The Program Coordinator of the Women’s Network for Environmental Sustainability (WoNES), an affiliate member of a larger and inclusive noble institution including the 50/50 Group, has enlightened at the ‘Citizens’ Conference on Land and the Constitution’ organized by Green Scenery on 23rd and 24th June 2014 at the National Stadium in Freetown that as a national, non-partisan, Non-Governmental Organization, it is seeking to have more women and communities involved in identifying, designing and implementing mitigation and adaptation measures to address environmental degradation and climate change in Sierra Leone.
Nabeela Tunis extended appreciation to the organizers of the conference for allowing WoNES to add its voice to the forum on the topical issue of women’s rights to land underscoring that the organization considers the event timely because as a nation, “we are in the process of reviewing our Constitution. This is a unique opportunity for us to make the fundamental Constitutional reforms to reflect our evolved needs and priorities as well as address contemporary matters.”
According to the WoNES Program Coordinator, research has been conducted in Sierra Leone on women and land that highlights a worrying degree of abuse of their rights to land ownership and use articulating that publications released by Action Aid, COOPI, Oxfam and Green Scenery, supported by national organizations, have portrayed vivid and practical instances of various levels of abuse, some of which are unbelievable.
She continued that WoNES works with women in rural communities and has keenly followed Environmental Social and Health Impact Assessments (ESHIA) processes on large-scale foreign mining and agricultural investments adding that the organization has observed that women play important roles in farming (both for food production and for sale) and cottage industry.
Nabeela Tunis further disclosed that these activities are largely dependent on access to land intimating that women are also responsible for household welfare, especially nurturing of children and caring for the sick and aged pointing out that the lack of access to land under the customary law system, further exacerbated by large-scale acquisition of land by foreign companies and the subsequent degradation of land resources through their operations, has profound consequences on women, children and the aged as they constitute the most vulnerable in rural communities.
WoNES sources indicate that although the strategic importance of women in rural communities is now widely acknowledged, they are still excluded from the planning, policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of land issues in Sierra Leone.
Also, there is the tendency for the interests of foreign companies in land investment opportunities to override the importance of ensuring that the associated environmental, social and health impacts are given appropriate attention.
Nabeela Tunis went on to affirm that this information has enriched the discourse around women and land issues, enhanced knowledge and created a level of consciousness amongst Sierra Leonean women and stakeholders.
She queried, “is there anything new to know about the extent of discrimination our rural women face in acquiring land or accessing inherited land? What can be worse than a woman who was forced into poverty by her husband’s family, shortly after the death of her husband? The family took over her husband’s oil-palm plantation and rice paddies and drove her and her mother from their home. Is it headline news to know that women have been forcefully dispossessed of their land as a result of direct foreign investments?”
She went on to affirm, “is it a surprise to know that while women constitute between 60-80 % of the agriculture workforce, they do not have full access or control of land?”
She continued to articulate that Sierra Leone is currently operating under a dual land tenure system and that customary law applies in 12 out of the country’s 14 Districts reiterating that customary and traditional norms continue to prevent women from accessing land informing that Section 27 (4) (d) and (e) of the 1991 Constitution limits women’s rights.
She quoted the 1991 Constitution as stating that every person is equal under the law except where customary law states otherwise revealing that women represent 52% of the population with a good chunk being rural women who rely on their lands for theirs and their families’ sustenance adding, “imagine the anguish and despair these woman face when encountered with such discrimination. Does our current Constitution protect them? I would think not.”
She further disclosed that if we are committed to reducing poverty, enhancing food security and good governance, we need to increase women’s access to land, that this is the common objective and we need the support and participation of all stakeholders to sustain a robust and united front to achieve this goal.
The WoNES Program Coordinator also appealed, “let us exemplify the political will that has been demonstrated in the appointments of more women in decision-making structures to assure all that our customs and traditions will not be eroded by allowing women access to land. Other African countries have done it and are moving forward. As we seek to consolidate our contributions and views on this issue today, I encourage all of us to be focused, united and constructive. What we are setting out to achieve is not aimed at being critical but to strengthen our existing structures. As a Government is elected by the majority, it should not ignore the views of the inclusive minority regarding women’s rights to own land. On this note, I urge participants to work assiduously to attain the consensus we need to effect this change.”
She also commended all national partners who have worked relentlessly to promote women’s rights in Sierra Leone and acknowledge the support extended by their international partners reminding all that the effects of climate change and environmental degradation are felt in every nook and cranny of the country.
According to Mrs. Tunis, Sierra Leone has been identified as the third most vulnerable country in the world prone to disaster and underlined the need to make efforts to change that asserting that protecting women’s rights to own land, just as any other human being, would ensure greater management of our environment.
She intimated that WoNES would soon expand its campaign to ensure that the new Constitution specifically addresses environment issues holistically stressing that this would be part of the women’s position paper that would be presented to the Constitutional Review Committee underscoring that the position paper would also address all aspects of discrimination that women want to see in the new Constitution adding that this message is being disseminated at the lower level through workshops conducted by the 50/50 Group.
In a related development, Nabeela Tunis was nominated member of the Five Person Follow-up Committee to ensure that mechanisms are put in place to facilitate the presentation of the communiqué to the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC).
She will also represent the Western Region to ensure that the communiqué is widely disseminated during consultations in the Western Area.
Mrs. Gertrude Karium of WoNES rendered the vote of thanks.
The entire conference was led by Green Scenery.
Staff members of WoNES, including Nabeela Tunis, Gertrude Karimu and Ranita S. Koroma, have also concluded a month-long visit to communities and schools in Port Loko, Pujehun and Bo Districts, Western Rural District, Tongo and Sierra Rutile to raise awareness on environmental degradation and climate change.
The activities were in support of the World Environment Day and conducted in collaboration with the various Districts based partner organizations and Focal Persons.
Furthermore, WoNES members distributed leaflets to the students which contained commonly used terms and basic information on climate change and environmental degradation.
WoNES will continue to support the EPA-SL and national efforts to promote a safer environment in Sierra Leone.
Kongbap Sumner
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