On May 20th, a law which bans pregnant students from attending school was withdrawn in Sierra Leone. According to the United Nation’s Population Fund, over 18 thousand girls get pregnant in Sierra Leone every year. In the past, the pregnant students were denied entrance to the schools. Moreover, they were not even given with the opportunity to take tests and were banned to reenter the school after giving birth. In fact, it was impossible for them to graduate schools. In 2018, some human rights organizations such as The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, and a women’s rights organization called Equality Now accused Sierra Leone’s government in The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Accordingly, the regional court commanded Sierra Leone to nullify the ban on pregnant students attending school, stating that it is a clear discrimination against women. The ECOWAS court commanded Sierra Leone to establish nationwide program in order to help pregnant women to attend school.

Marta Colomer, a deputy director of Amnesty International’s west and central campaigns, said “This delivers a clear message to other African governments who have similar bans, such as Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, or may be contemplating them, that they should follow this groundbreaking ruling and take steps to allow pregnant girls access to education in line with their own human rights obligations.”

John McGuire (Prof. of Division of International Studies, Hanyang University) said, “I think the court ruling that led to the ban on pregnant girls attending school being overturned was a very important one, which may ultimately lead to similar changes in other African countries as well. At the same time, I think that much more work needs to be done to end the ongoing sexual violence and gender discrimination against girls and women in countries like Sierra Leone.”

By Lee Hyeon-Su, Reporter

hlee9602@pusan.ac.kr