I det fattige land i Vestafrika har langt de fleste opgivet retssystemet, bl.a. fordi der næsten ingen dommere er for hånden – folk går til traditionelle mæglere i lokalsamfundet, men langt de fleste donorpenge går fortsat til domstolene.
FREETOWN, 31 May 2012 (IRIN) – While an international court hands down a 50-year sentence to Sierra Leone’s former warlord, Charles Taylor, most Sierra Leoneans seek justice away from their country’s courts and turn instead to traditional arbiters (mæglere).
“When I went to the police, I was thinking about the court and all the time we would waste,” said Richard Jimmy, a street vendor (gadesælger) who settled a recent dispute with another vendor in the capital, Freetown, through a local street-sellers’ association.
“People do not believe too much in the formal system because of the delay. A simple case that we can handle in two or three days… could sit in the magistrate’s court [lowest court] for months,” said Matthew Jibao Young, head of the Mende ethnic group in Sierra Leone’s urban Western Area, comprising Freetown, the capital, and the surrounding peninsula communities.
Every month he deals with dozens of disputes ranging from abusive language to debt and witchcraft.
A recent briefing by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a British think-tank, noted that most of Sierra Leone’s population seek justice and security through “non-state” actors such as provincial or village chiefs, paralegal practitioners, professional associations, unions, and traditional “secret societies” that regulate the country’s sexual, social and political conduct.
“This focus needs to change”
Yet global trends show that almost 80 percent of donor funds for justice and security reform go to state systems. Since the civil war in Sierra Leone ended in 2002, such funds have mostly gone to the state, including the courts, police, legislature, civil service and the military.
This focus needs to change if justice and security reforms are to have a “meaningful impact”, said Lisa Denney, author of the ODI report.
“There is a sense now that non-state actors are really important, and that they are often the dominant providers, particularly in fragile states. Donors agree. Now they want to know, ‘What can we do about that?’”, added she.
A grant of 43,3 million US dollar over six years for a justice and security development programme that began in 2006 is a major donation by the UK’s Department for International Development’s (DfID).
The programme has focused mainly on rebuilding magistrate’s courts, barracks, holding pens and prisons, as well as the human resources to staff them.
But despite this and other significant investments, most residents still shun formal justice institutions because capacity is low.
Court proceedings are in English and interpreters for non-English speakers are rare, while distance and pressure to settle outside of court discourage many from making a trip that can be long and arduous.
In a nation of six million people there are just 16 state judges, nine of whom are based in Freetown, home to approximately 1,5 million people.
The remaining seven judges cover 12 rural districts, where 70 percent of Sierra Leoneans live, and means that some remote districts do not see a judge for months at a time.
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