Sunday, April 19, 2015

Canada is involved with the fight against Ebola...

Canada's financial contributions

Canada has committed funding to support health, humanitarian and security interventions in West Africa. Allocations include:
  • Over $20 million to the World Health Organization (WHO):
    • Over $15 million to strengthen the medical response in Ebola-affected countries.
      • This will be used to assist with preparedness activities in neighbouring countries not affected by Ebola.
      • It will also be used to improve coordination efforts.
    • $5 million to support international security-related Ebola response activities in West Africa.
      • Canada's contribution will support essential biosafety and biosecurity measures. These measures will strengthen the field response to the outbreak and reduce associated threats to health and security.
  • $10.5 million to the World Food Programme (WFP):
    • This will be used to meet immediate food needs and prevent acute malnutrition among young children and women.
  • $10 million to UNICEF for health education efforts in communities. Canada's support will:
    • increase the knowledge of health staff and community volunteers on preventative measures,
    • expand in-community care services for Ebola patients, and
    • improve access to basic services such as food, water and non-Ebola health services.
  • $9.5 million to the WFP's United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS). This support will help the Logistics Special Operation:
    • meet the critical logistics and transportation needs of responders, and
    • improve the efficiency of the overall humanitarian response.
  • $4 million to the UN Ebola Multi-Partner Trust Fund to address critical gaps in response efforts.
  • Over $3.8 million to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). This will be used to:
    • support medical capacity to trace contact cases and manage clean-up efforts,
    • strengthen capacity in non-affected countries to prepare for and respond to the Ebola crisis, and
    • enhance coordination efforts.
  • $5 million to the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) to help fill urgent medical and emergency staffing needs in emergency treatment centres. Canada's support is designed to save lives and stop the spread of Ebola.
  • $5 million to the French Red Cross Society (FRCS) to support the operation of its Ebola Treatment Centres in Guinea. This support will ensure that Ebola-infected patients receive the treatment and care they need to survive.
  • $4.2 million to Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) will be used to:
    • support treatment efforts, including in community care locations,
    • train medical and support staff in Guinea,
    • provide isolation and protection measures to limit and contain the spread of the Ebola virus, and
    • provide care to people affected by Ebola.
  • $2.6 million to Samaritan's Purse to meet the urgent needs of those affected and prevent further spread of Ebola in Liberia. Canada's support will also be used to provide home-based care kits, educational material, and infection prevention and control kits.
  • $1.3 million to Action Contre la Faim (ACF) will be used to increase awareness and training in communities in Sierra Leone and Guinea. These activities are designed to help contain the Ebola virus.
  • $1 million to Plan Canada to set up Ebola Care Units. These Units will provide complementary care to people in Liberia who are affected by Ebola. This support will also be used to train healthcare and community workers.
  • $1 million to CANADEM to support the deployment of Canadian and non-Canadian experts. They will be deployed to help United Nations agencies responding to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
  • $1 million to OXFAM Québec will be used to help contain and reduce the spread of Ebola. This support will also increase access to treatment facilities for affected populations in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
  • $1 million to Save the Children will be used to implement an integrated multi-sectoral Ebola response in Guinea. This response effort will provide immediate assistance to vulnerable children and their families.
  • $500,000 to CARE Canada will address the broader humanitarian impacts of Ebola. Canada's support will improve access to clean water. It will also enhance awareness of good hygiene practices to help contain the Ebola outbreak in Liberia.
  • $23.5 million to support further research and development of Ebola medical countermeasures. Canada's Ebola vaccine and monoclonal antibody treatments will be used to:
    • support clinical trials in Africa, and
    • help produce monoclonal antibody treatments.
  • $3 million to support the provinces and territories in the delivery of infection control training and equipment. These funds will be used to help with the deployment of the Public Health Agency of Canada's Rapid Response Teams.
  • $1 million to deploy additional trained Quarantine Officers at Canadian airports to support these enhanced border measures.
  • Contingency planning to provide appropriate duty of care for Canadian personnel deployed to affected regions.
Canada is engaging in discussions with a number of partners on how best to continue to respond to the Ebola outbreak.

High profile (Canadian) visitors to Sierra Leone.

During the week of April 12th, we had visitors to Sierra Leone... The Canadian High Commissioner (based in Accra, Ghana), Christopher Thornlee, the Chief Public Health Officer of Public Health Canada, Dr. Gregory Taylor, the President and CEO of the Cdn Red Cross, Conrad Sauve, and the Executive Director of MSF/Doctors Without Borders, Stephen Cornish. 

Together, we visited the Cdn run laboratory at the MSF Ebola Treatment Centre in Magburka and the Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Centre where a group of Cdn military personnel are treating patients and supporting the efforts of the British military.




L-R: Conrad Sauve - Cdn Red Cross. Dr. Gregory Taylor - Chief Public Health Officer. Stephen Cornish - Cdn MSF/Doctors Without Borders and Christopher Thornlee, Canadian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone (based in Accra, Ghana). 

“Pay your ‘sellers tax’ but don’t sell here.”

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." - Mahatma Ghandi

There’s a Freetown City Council (FCC) by-law that says traders/sellers must not sell on several, specified streets in downtown Freetown. It’s probably not obvious to folks who visit the “central business district” or the downtown city core. Many streets are lined with street sellers – selling everything from phones to underclothes… from groundnuts to watermelons.

Personally, I love this kind of street shopping… and can usually find anything I really need… belts, vests, novels, phone cases, money changers, soaps, shoes, et cetera. In fact, I almost prefer shopping on the street over the few grocery stores and electronic shops frequented by ex-pats. When I buy something on the street, I know it’s going to help pay school fees for children, buy food for families, pay medical expenses and support some of the most vulnerable sectors of this society.

Hawa is a young friend who sells scented sprays and shoe polish on a street corner. She works beside Fatmata, Lovette, Zainab and Mary, who also sell assorted goods from small, plastic bowls or baskets. It takes Hawa an hour and a half every morning to get to work… and she begins her long commute home at 5:30 (just before the restriction on any sales after 6:00 PM). The women are there – reliably – on the corner, every day but Sunday.

The economic reality for most street sellers is pretty grim. Hawa’s profits are between 30-50,000Le per week (about $10). Hawa spends 4,000Le each day (just under $1) on transportation to and from her corner. She spends 5,000Le per day ($1) on food while she works. She often drinks 1,000Le worth of packet-water every day. Most days, she says, she adds an oral rehydration solution (ORS) to her water to replenish the moisture she loses under the sun. The ORS powder costs 500Le. Hawa and the others pay 300Le per day in City taxes levied against all street sellers.

The City taxes are collected by an obnoxious older man, Mr. Alusine they call him, who carries no identification, wears no uniform and wanders the streets collecting 300Le from anyone he catches. He dolls out a small “ticket” of paper that’s marked with the day’s date… Does he submit these Leones to the city coffers? He offers no explanation… but I suspect he’s a brother of someone who works at the City… and collects this money for his own use.

Hawa and the other women’s largest expense for the day are the bribes paid to Freetown City Council Municipal Police… who harass the women, “arrest” their market – taking baskets and bowls to the Police Station, or capturing them and imprisoning them overnight. Most of the time, the women cough up between 20-50,000Le in bribes and are given back their picked over baskets of small products. Many times, the police scoop up products for themselves… and the bribes go directly into the police constable’s pockets.

The women tried taking up a small collection of Leones to pay the officers every day… to leave them alone. The collecting officer would then turn a blind eye… but another FCC police constable would skulk past and also demand money and threaten the women and children with arrest – which ultimately means a bigger bribe.

When I first learned about how the FCC Police harass street sellers, several years ago, I was incensed… It’s so frustrating and sad to think of the hardship that Hawa and the other women go through… scraping by to put a bit of food on their tables.

"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " - Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey


Following up on pregnant school girls...

My little blog about teen girls being tested for pregnancy before the BECE exams was stolen and copied by several newspapers and other websites... and subsequently read by far more folks than my "normal" small group of followers. Interesting... I'm formulating some thoughts on that but for now... I can let you know that there's been a substantial increase in interest in the whole topic.

One such group who finally took an interest in the issue was the UN office in Sierra Leone... and I'll copy their statement below.

U N I T E D   N A T I O N S  N A T I O N S   U N I E S
Office of the Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
STATEMENT ON THE BAN ON PREGNANT GIRLS RETURNING TO SCHOOL AND TAKING EXAMS

The United Nations in Sierra Leone notes the decision taken by the Government of Sierra Leone to disqualify pregnant schoolgirls from attending school and from sitting school examinations.

The United Nations wishes to remind the Government of Sierra Leone that education is a fundamental human right that Sierra Leone has committed itself to uphold. 

Article 4.1 of Sierra Leone’s Education Act (2004) includes the principle of non-discrimination in accessing education.

As a state Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Sierra Leone has accepted its international obligation under the Charter of the United Nations to promote universal respect for, and observance of human rights and freedoms, which includes Article 13 of the Covenant, the right to education.  Furthermore, under Article 2.2 of the Covenant, Sierra Leone undertakes to guarantee the right to education without discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of sex.

The United Nations would encourage the Sierra Leone authorities to adopt a policy whereby pregnant schoolgirls can enjoy an education that is availableaccessible and acceptable:

·       Available means that functioning educational institutions and programmes have to be available in sufficient quantity within Sierra Leone for the pregnant schoolgirls;
·       Accessible means that the schools must be accessible without discrimination; that they are physically accessible (i.e. within safe physical reach); and that they are affordable;
·       Acceptable means that the form and substance of education, including curricula and teaching methods, have to be acceptable.
The United Nations in Sierra Leone stands ready to assist the Government in fulfilling the right to education for all its children, irrespective of their temporary status as a pregnant teenager.


Freetown
14 April 2015


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Here's what the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone says...

ENSURING THE RIGHT TO ACCESS EDUCATION BY PREGNANT GIRLS AND YOUNG MOTHERS

Wednesday 25th February, 2015: The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) is concerned about statements made by high ranking officials of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology that pregnant girls and pregnant young women would be barred from taking their exams and going back to school.
The Commission is of the view that this policy discriminates against women and girls and this pattern of stigmatising pregnant young women would only worsen their marginalization as well as their vulnerability. This would also lead to the violation of their economic, social and cultural rights, more especially their right to education, livelihood, adequate standard of living and their rights to participate and contribute to nation building. The effect of the implementation of this policy will undermine the right to education provided in Section 3 (2) of the Education Act of 2004 and Government’s National Development Plan, ‘The Agenda for Prosperity’, particularly Pillar 8 which deals with Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

It would be recalled that in its State of Human Rights Report 2011, HRCSL raised the issue of discrimination by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) when they stopped pregnant girls from taking their exams and recommended that “WAEC should review its policy on forbidding pregnant girls from taking exams and should provide alternative facilities to ensure that every girl irrespective of their status can write their exams.”

Pregnant girls and young mothers must be protected from discrimination by the State as guaranteed in Section 27 (2) of the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, which states that “……..no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority”. Furthermore Section 4(1) of the Education Act 2004 states that “This Act and any other enactment and administrative instructions relating to education shall be administered and interpreted in such a manner as to ensure that there is no discrimination between pupils or students in the matter of their admission to and treatment in any educational institution in Sierra Leone…”

HRCSL wishes to draw the attention of Government to the provisions of International Human Rights Instruments that it has ratified:
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1990) Article 28.1 which calls on State parties to “...recognise the right to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall in particular; (e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of dropout rates.”

• Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 1981 Part 3 Article 10, which requires “State parties to take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women and girls in the field of education”.
Additionally, in its latest Concluding Observations on Sierra Leone (2014), the CEDAW Committee called on the Government of Sierra Leone “to remove all barriers to school attendance by pregnant girls and young mothers”.

The Commission also draws Government’s attention to the imperative recommendation of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Report Volume 2, chapter 3, page 212, which states that the Government must “abolish the practice of expelling pregnant girls from school”. One of the recommendations in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 2011 is the implementation of the TRC Recommendations which Government has undertaken to implement.

HRCSL therefore urges Government to take the necessary steps to create the enabling environment to ensure that pregnant girls and young mothers are accepted in schools, take their exams, continue their education and are not stigmatised and discriminated against.
Furthermore, HRCSL calls on Schools and Educational Authorities, National and International NGOs, Parents, Guardians, Religious and Community Leaders to take responsibility to support the education of pregnant girls and young mothers.

Whilst HRCSL does not condone children in schools to be sexually active, their right to access education must not be compromised.

The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone remains committed to protecting and promoting the rights of all in Sierra Leone.

(SIGNED)
.........................................................
Commissioner Daphne Olu-Williams
Acting Chairperson


“You can’t write the exam or attend school,” gasp. “You’re pregnant!”

I can’t help it… I’m incensed, frustrated and totally flabbergasted. Ohhhhh, Sierra Leone!!!

The schools have been closed for almost a year now. The Ebola crisis has upset almost every facet of “normal” life around here. “Normal” wasn’t great to begin with… but… the closure of schools and the cancellations of regional and national exams has upset the progression of students – leaving primary school and entering secondary school… or writing their final secondary school exams.

The Basic Education Certificate Exam (BECE) is the national examination all students need to write to progress from Junior Secondary School (JSS) to Senior Secondary School (SSS). Students spend three years in JSS (most of the time) and at the close of JSS3 are supposed to write this BECE exam. Most of the students writing the BECE are between 16-18 years old. The BECE was the first test to be “postponed” in June of 2014. The West African School Certificate Exam (WASCE) is the regional test taken to finish secondary school… and maybe enter college or university. (many people don’t pass either exam…)

That’s all background information. What’s got me so riled up is the government policy to not allow girls who are “visibly pregnant” to write their BECE or the WASCE exams… or even attend schools when they reopen. Reopening schools is a heated topic of debate… and a potential source of much donor money. The government has set a date… then postponed and set another date… and it looks like it’s going to happen soon. (amidst the Ebola crisis, I might add)

The dates for the BECE exam have been slated for next week (April 1)… after a year of schools being closed, no classes, no preparations, etc. What a joke… to ask these kids to write a national exam after being idle for a year. There was supposed to be a week of prep-classes for the JSS3 students but from what I’ve heard those classes didn’t happen – teachers didn’t show up, there were no materials, no desks, no toilet facilities, no temperature checks, no safety precautions, etc. Sigh. And, parents are reluctant to send their children back to school for obvious reasons.

The government has appointed the former National Electoral Commissioner, Christiana Thorpe, to head the committee responsible for planning the re-opening of schools. She stated, as quoted in a local newspaper, “According to the Child Rights Act, the rights of the child has to be protected at all times. Therefore, it is in the interest of the pregnant children to stay home and deal with stress and avoid the examination.” She added, “girls should be girls and not mothers. It is high time we began to maintain morals”.

Any respect I had for this woman has been immediately dashed… What is she thinking??? I should try to remind Ms. Thorpe of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states in Article 2, “No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.” And then Article 4, “Governments have a responsibility to take all available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.”

Of course, I’ll have to remind the school reopening committee of this, from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28: (Right to education): All children have the right to a primary education, which should be free. Young people should be encouraged to reach the highest level of education of which they are capable.

So, a young girl gets pregnant… at some point during the Ebola crisis. Then, she’s punished further by being forced to drop out of school!!!! Sad… frustrating!! Under present conditions in this country… poverty and rape are rampant… this government wants to further punish these young women. I should add, there’s a saying around here, “the BECE belly”, which is used to describe the abhorrently high rate of pregnancy amongst girls who’re waiting to write the BECE exam or waiting to receive results, which often takes 4-6 months.

From the report, “Realities of Teenage Pregnancy in Sierra Leone”, published by KIT Publishers and disseminated on 8th December 2012 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

“Teenage pregnancies are common in Sierra Leone with 34% of adolescent girls (between 15-19 years old) having had at least one birth or being pregnant in 2008. Of these adolescent girls, 44% live in rural areas and 23% in urban areas. More than 50% of 19 year old girls (54.2%) have started childbearing and more than one in 10 girls aged 15 have started childbearing (11.3%).”

UNICEF Sierra Leone published a report on teenage pregnancies in 2010, which revealed that teenagers included in the research had a high rate of sexual activity. Reasons for sex were ‘love’, receiving money or gifts, peer pressure, payment for school-related expenses, food and protection. The perception of love was often associated with material gains.

The study also reported a high level of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse (58% in children 12-24 years). (UNICEF Sierra Leone 2010).

Goal (2010) undertook a study on teenage pregnancies in the Western Area district in Sierra Leone. They found some of the same factors contributing to early sexual debut as the UNICEF study: lack of support from parents, vulnerable situations, poverty, desiring what others have, peer pressure and power relations. Some adolescent girls engage in sexual relationships with men for their upkeep. Others have sex with men or boys to gain desired material goods (Goal Sierra Leone 2010).

The Minister of Education for the past seven years, Minkailu Bah, said, “government will not legalize teenage pregnancy by allowing pregnant girls to attend schools when they reopen”. I should add that his Ministry is responsible for the deplorable state of education in the country… and you can see why. He’s about 200 watts short of a bright bulb.

Someone should remind the Minister, the School Re-opening Committee and the President of Sierra Leone about the Sierra Leone Constitution 1991, Chapter 2: Educational objectives.
9. (1) The Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal rights and adequate educational opportunities for all citizens at all levels by—
a. ensuring that every citizen is given the opportunity to be educated to the best of his ability, aptitude and inclination by providing educational facilities at all levels and aspects of education such as primary, secondary, vocational, technical, college and university;
b. safeguarding the rights of vulnerable groups, such as children, women and the disabled in security educational facilities; and
c. providing the necessary structures, finance and supportive facilities for education as and when practicable.

The Minister went on to say (was he kidding?), “According to the President’s Ebola proclamation, every pregnant girl should be arrested and charged to court because the Ebola protocol states that nobody should touch. So why should they touch?” Again… a shockingly stupid statement.

The Minister also said, “The WAEC report (which one, he didn’t mention) maintained that the girls (pregnant girls) will normally not have a sound mind to take the exam and often fall asleep in the exam hall, causing a major financial loss to the government.”

The Minister was also heard on Star Radio 103.5 saying, “exams are for school-going girls not pregnant women.”

I should add, the Minister recently admonished donors saying, “It is very unfair that they (donors) would want pregnant girls in schools. Why should they talk about that?” In the same breath, the Minister begged donors for $160 million to reopen schools, build bathroom facilities, provide water to schools, build desks, provide learning materials, buy thermometers, etc. I say… if donors are going to pay for all this stuff – they have the right to dictate some human rights policies and make sure schools and the Ministry, government and others follow basic rights principles. If schools and the Ministry had been operated properly over the past six years, there wouldn’t be the need to build toilets and wash facilities… but the Ministry, one of the most corrupt Ministries in the country, wants the cash and this Ebola crisis is a sure-fire way of attracting and stealing millions of dollars. (as illustrated in the Auditor General’s report May-Oct 2014)

As I’ve written about before, the illiteracy rate in Sierra Leone is anywhere from 65-80%. There are many reasons for this… apart from the extraordinarily bad education system. Drop outs, exam failures, pregnancies, sicknesses, poverty (inability to pay school fees), family pressures, early marriage, etc. are a few… and now, the government will add to the numbers of young women who will likely be forever burdened by a lack of basic education.

I’m curious about the Minister’s phrase, “visibly pregnant”. What exactly does that mean? A girl in her third trimester of pregnancy? A girl with a small tummy from sitting idle for a year? Does this mean that the Ministry will start administering pregnancy tests as a criteria for writing an exam or attending school? Good grief. And, who will decide if a girl looks “visibly pregnant”? It might just be another source of bribes for examiners… as if there isn’t enough corruption in the system.

Imagine this scene.

Isha is a mature, 18-year old student. She attended a local school prior to the Ebola outbreak and is supposed to write her BECE exam this year. She is called to her JS school to pick up her exam timetable, identification slip and photo – that will allow her into the exam hall. She’s called to the office of the Principal, a 50-ish woman in a flowing Africanna dress. Isha meets the Principal, always an authoritative figurehead, and two other female teachers waiting in the office. The Principal asks Isha to disrobe – remove her faded blue uniform down to her underclothes. One of the teachers starts to grope her stomach, “feeling for hardness and pregnancies”. The teacher squeezes Isha’s breasts – testing for “firmness” – and watches for any twinges of pain on Isha’s face. Then, Isha is handed a pregnancy test strip and told to urinate on the paper slip over a bucket in the corner of the office. Isha follows all the directions and the test reads – negative. She’s not pregnant… and is allowed to pick up her exam timetable and identification slip… and allowed to write the BECE exam.

This gruesome, blatant stab into the heart of human rights happened on Monday, March 30, 2015 at the Aberdeen Municipal School.

And, I’m left thinking about the boys and men who impregnated these girls… Will the boys be subjected to any penalties? How to tell? What about those sickening, “big men” (some of whom are undoubtedly politicians) who’ve impregnated these girls and young women? Will they be held to account? Will they be penalized? No… I doubt that very much.

Perhaps I should remind the Minister and other officials of the government of this… from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 34 (Sexual exploitation): Governments should protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse.

At the moment, Sierra Leone is undergoing a Constitutional Review and a Constitutional crisis. The President has sacked his Vice President… and some say that is a direct violation of the Constitution. Yet it happened… and the matter is now before the Supreme Court. BUT, there’s another Constitutional crisis – and this one has to do with the issue of girls’ education.