Sierra Leone Declares Rape a National Emergency

The President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maado Bio,  has officially declared rape a national emergency. In his doing so he has also announced free hospital care to sexual assault victims, he created a special police and court divisions to deal with the cases that come in, he also established a hotline where victims can call. In this quote from the article it explains the situation, "Sierra Leone's sexual violence statistics are harrowing. According to the country's police service, there were more than 8,500 reported case of sexual- and gender-based violence in 2018 — and a third of these involved a minor. But many activists, and the country's first lady, say the number of actual cases is likely much higher, as many instances go unreported". Most of the victims are under the age of 15. The President then declared that any act of sexual assault is punishable by life imprisonment.
Of the 2,900 sexual assault cases that were reported only 1.3% were successfully prosecuted. Yet there are more than 3,000 cases awaiting trial and it will most likely take years for those women to even get a hearing. It is sad to read because women make up half of the population in Sierra Leone and its population is just over 7 million people.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/02/15/694846069/sierra-leones-president-declared-rape-a-national-emergency-what-happens-now