By Anthony Vandy
The “lef me bodi” campaign is aimed at raising awareness amongst the population about this issue related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them.
However reaching out to those that could be potentially affected is a key part of prevention and response efforts.
This campaign involves community stakeholders, policy makers, child protection partners SGBV partners law makers and law enforcement agencies across Sierra Leone.
Speaking to this medium The head of Family Support Units Madam Fatmata Daboh Kamara
On behalf of the family support Units been a crucial partner which is a specialized units attached to the Police Station across Sierra Leone with a mandate to investigate all forms of child abuse and violence against children. This includes sexual and physical abuse, exploitation, including commercial exploitation, internal and cross-border trafficking
Madam Fatmata Daboh Kamara added that the main aim of the campaign is to raise the number of conventions in courts and thus bring justice to survivors.
Amanda Helen Clemens is the Communications person for Don Bosco Fambul while giving her key note address said based on statics in 2020, 2,138 children in distressed called the Don Bosco child line In the same year Rainbow Initiative recorded 2,322 cases of sexual assault on minors nationwide, according to Family support Unit of the Sierra Leone police 915 cases of sexual exploitation cases were recorded between January and April 2021 alone.
Amanda Clemens added that the “Lef Me Bodi” campaign is aimed at raising awareness amongst the population about the issues related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them. Reaching out to those that could be potentially affected is a key part of prevention and response efforts.
She ended up by saying they will do interactive school workshops that will train school going pupils about the dangers of sexual exploitation and how to spot and avoid them as school plays crucial roles in the campaign to prevent sexual exploitation against minors.
The “Lef me bodi” campaign is a prevention- oriented advocacy campaign that aims to strengthen children’s ability in spotting threats and repelling them. It Is said that strong confident children are less likely to become victims and more likely to report. It is however believed that children can be superheroes that they can speak up and refuse to be touched.
The Assistant Director for Children’s Affairs Daniel Gbow on behalf of the minster said He Ministry does not work in isolation and therefore has been working with key partners in ensuring children and especially girl child are been protect from any form of abuse and violation.
He said one key mandate of the ministry is to protect women and children of Sierra Leone through monitoring, partnership, and the review of the child protection and gender policies. He however said sexual exploitation is a menace in the society and the country as a whole.
Fact and figures reported cases of domestic violence sexual penetration and rape
From January to December 2020 through the child line of Don Bosco Fambul record 2,138 calls of children in distress.Therefore it beholds on all to be actively engaged as much as possible to prevent abuse before it happens.
