Sierra Leone: Protecting Women's Rights to Own Land
The debate concerning women and access to land is one not confined to Sierra Leone but is an issue that gets very little attention. I was glad to find this article on a rarely publicized subject.
http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525768.shtml
Awareness Times
Sierra Leone News : "Protecting Women's Rights to Own Land Will Ensure Greater Management of Our Environment"-WoNE
Jul 14, 2014
(excerpt)
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....
MORE at link provided above.
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